Misty's Journey
by Misty's Double
Summary: Ash has 3 months to train for the Johto League Competition, but Misty's thinking about leaving the group. Read on to follow the now split journeys of Misty and Ash. DISCONTINUED. Look out for rewrite, coming soon!
1. Prologue

Misty: Hi! I am Misty the Mighty, the greatest water Pokémon trainer in the world!!!

Me: Oh, hi Misty. Okay, let's get this show on the road…

Misty: WHHHAAAT?! You've got to do the disclaimer and stuff first!

Me: Ta Mist. I forgot!!! ^_^* Here goes…

Disclaimer: I am Satoshi Tajiri, so yes, I own Pokémon. What, you don't believe me? Oh well, I tried… -_-* I don't own Pokémon, I only own the idea of this story, as it was a dream I had a couple of days ago. And, if anybody sues me, the most they will get is £2.49, and a half empty packet of chewing gum. HA!!!

A/N This is my first EVER fanfic, but the idea's been brewing for some time. I started work on it in my German lesson 2 weeks ago, nothing cement or anything. Bad move, 'cause it got confiscated, and I only just got it back! Please read and review, and tell me what I should do to make it better! ^_~

P.S Ages for characters: Ash: 13, Misty: 14, and Brock: 16. I thought I'd put this, as there's always controversy about this little niggling problem (I'm usually part in arguments in it, I believe Ash gets a year older with each season, and I think Misty's a year older than Ash. Brock, who knows? I just did this age for the fic)

P.P.S I have updated this, giving it a little formatting, and improving the story also. This will eventually be done throughout all the chapters, but for now, it's this.

All Pokémon translations are in brackets, thoughts are in Italics, and flashbacks bold.

Misty's Johto Journey 

By Misty's Double

Part 1-Prologue 

"Dragonair is unable to battle. The winner of the round and the Rising badge… Ash Ketchum!" The referee announced. Ash had just beaten Clair, the final bump on the road to the Johto league.

"Way to go, Ash!" Misty congratulated Ash on his fine win.

"Thanks Misty. Thanks Pikachu. You were awesome!!!" Ash said happily.

"Pikachu! (We won again!!!)" Pikachu replied.

"Well done, Ash. You really deserve the Rising badge," Clair said

"Thanks, Clair You were really tough to beat today." Ash replied.

"I hope you go really far in the Johto league Ash."

"Thanks, Clair."

"Ash, we'd better get off to the Pokémon Centre." Misty added

"Yeah. See ya!" Ash said to Clair.

*At the Pokémon Centre*

Ash, Misty and Brock booked a room for the night with Nurse Joy, or should we say Ash and Misty booked the room, as Brock was goggling at Nurse Joy.

"Oh yeah, and could you check my Pokémon Joy? They had a pretty tough battle against Clair." Ash asked politely

"I could check out that lovely smile anyd-WAAAHH!" Brock cooed

"Cool off Romeo. Joy's too busy for you at the minute!" Misty sighed while pulling Brock away by his ear.

*In the Bedroom*

"Right, let's get this straight…" Brock started

"I'M HAVING TOP BUNK!!!" Ash and Misty simultaneously shouted

"Wait, you two don't wanna sleep together, do you? Hehehehe OWWW!" Brock said as Misty pulled out her trusty mallet, 'gently' placing it right on Brock's head.

"Don't pull wisecracks about it, right?" Misty shouted

"So, I'm at the top!" Ash started

"No, I am!" Misty retorted

"I am!"

"Wanna bet?" Misty picked up a pillow and whacked Ash.

"Huh, OWW!" Ash moaned as Misty climbed onto the top bunk

"Nyahh! You're dumber than you look, Ash Ketchum!"

"Take that back!"

"Why?"

"Oh! Please can I have top bunk?" Ash sighed in defeat.

"Let me think… NO! Hahahahaha!!!"

"Grrr. Fine!" Ash slumped on the bottom bunk in a mood.

"Yet again, Misty the Mighty triumphs in a bid for the highly sought after top bunk!" Misty gloated

"Shut up Misty!!!" Ash kicked the bottom of the top bunk.

"You guys, it's late. Don't you think we should call it a day? Besides, the last thing we want to do is be missing valuable training time, huh?" Brock called.

"Yeah, I can't waste any training time this time, not like we did in the Indigo League" Ash remembered painfully

"Okay." Misty said. 

"Night. See ya tomorrow." Ash said

"Yeah. Night." Misty replied.

Ash, Brock, Togepi and Pikachu went to sleep, but Misty was lying wide-awake, staring at the ceiling, thinking.

'I'm fed up watching Ash become a Pokémon Master. I had that same dream before I left Cerulean, and I'm not giving up!'

*Begin flashback*

**Misty was in Cerulean Gym, with her sisters. She was 10.**

**"Pleeaase can I battle this trainer? I've won the last 15 battles in a row, _and _the big Elite 4 man-" Misty started**

**"Like-you mean Lance? He's sooo powerful, and cute too!" Daisy interrupted**

**"Yeah, him. He said I was powerful enough to become Pokémon master!"**

**"Look, he was-like making you feel better about yourself!" Violet said.**

Misty had been in Cerulean General hospital only weeks ago, due to a mishap during a battle she was taking part in. The rival's Rattata went underwater with Staryu; only it didn't remerge. Thinking it must be stuck in something, Misty dived in to free the Rattata. Only she didn't remerge, and was taken to hospital, only to be kept in for 2 weeks. This was when Lance, the present Pokémon Champion came to visit her.

**"Oh yeah, I'll show you! I want a three on three Pokémon battle. You three use one Pokémon each!"**

**"FINE!!" All three sisters called out their best Pokémon**

**"Go Goldeen/ Seaking/ Shellder!"**

**"Who's going first?"**

**"Lily. She's best." Daisy volunteers Lily.**

**"In that case, Misty calls Staryu!" The orange starfish jumped out of the red light, which emitted from the Pokéball.**

**"Tackle attack, Staryu!"**

**Staryu brings Shellder down, and Misty's Starmie finishes off Daisy's Goldeen. Seel gets beaten in by Violet's Seaking.**

**"Misty, where are ya like- going?" Violet calls after Misty, as Misty rushes off to her room.**

**"Like- leave her sis, she's gone in a mood because we bat up her Seel" Lily said confidently.**

***In Misty's room***

**_'Right. I'll pack my white shirt, my swimming costume, my yellow top and blue shorts, and I mustn't forget some money. I'll take some from the till in the foyer, and I'll take Staryu and Starmie with me. Oh, and I can't forget my Super rod!'_****  Misty packed her red drawstring bag.**

**_'Oh, and I'll take some Pokéballs from the store downstairs, they won't even notice they're not there.'_**

**Misty emerged 5 minutes later with a really evil scowl on her face.**

**"Like-what are you _doing?_" Daisy asked, noticing the red drawstring bag on her shoulder.**

**"For your information, I'm going on a Pokémon journey-as if you'll ever care-and I'm not coming back until I'm the World's greatest Pokémon Master! Goodbye!!" And with that, she took off through the gym doors, not before taking £2000 with her from the tills.**

**"Misty-come back!" Daisy shouted, but was ignored.**

**"Come off it sis- she'll like- be back before it's dark!" Lily said.**

*End flashback*

"That's it! I'll tell Ash tomorrow. But I won't tell him exactly what I'm doing." Misty said to herself, after deciding in her brain.

*The next morning*

"Err, Excuse me, do you sell Pokégears by any chance?" Misty asked the shopkeeper.

"We do."

"Could I have 2 please?"

"Sure, that's £200 please."

"Ta. Here ya go."

"Thanks. Please come again!"

Misty exited the Pokémart, and met Ash and Brock outside the doors.

"Well Misty, whatcha buy?" Ash asked

"2 Pokégears."

"Why?"

"1 for me, 1 for you."

"What are you on about?"

"Ash, just a minute, can you please hear me out? Brock, you'll want to hear this too"

*5 minutes later*

"Whatcha wanna tell us then Mist?" Ash asked.

"I don't know how to put this…" Misty looked down at the floor.

"What?" Brock asked.

"I'm going back to Cerulean."

"WHAT! You must be kidding!!" Ash screamed.

"No. I'm not kidding. I really wanna become a stronger Water Pokémon trainer, so I'm off back to take over the Gym." Misty finished.

"Misty… you mean… you're leaving?" Ash asked shocked. Misty nodded her head.

Ash looked her straight in the eyes.

"Look. We'll keep in touch, right?"

"That's what these are for." Misty looked down, her eyes stung from unshed tears.

"Well. We'll sure miss you Misty!" Brock said sadly

"I'll call you whenever I can!" Misty said sadly, the tears threatening to spill freely flowing down her face in little rivers. Ash put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. 

"Well, I guess this is goodbye." Ash said, looking as if he was going to cry.

"Yeah, I guess it is. Good luck with the Pokémon League Ash, Brock, I hope you'll get to be a great breeder, and I'll call you both every day!" Misty said, giving a little smile.

"Thanks Misty. I hope we'll see you soon, and be careful. Bye!" Ash said.

"Yeah, bye Misty, be careful and good luck!" Brock said sadly, as Misty turned on her heel and began waking back to her birthplace, without Ash and Brock.

*~*~*~*~*

Well, what do ya think? 

I'm starting on the next installment soon, and I'll have it up by next weekend, depending on homework situations.

Please don't flame me, as I'll just block you from reviewing my future fics. Constructive reviews will be REALLY helpful!

See ya all! ^_^


	2. Chapter 1 Return to Kanto

Finally, I have something to update with. This is a restructured, and reworked beginning to Misty's Journey. After months of growing hate and ultimately humiliation in the chapters in script format, I have decided to work on them all, making the story better as a whole, and maybe live up to the Best In Category award bestowed upon it's name. Now that I'm free of school until college in September, maybe I can put more time into giving this story some TLC... but you know what I'm like by now.

I have also removed chapters 1a, 1b and 2, as they are in for restructuring. And besides, the majority of chapter 1a is in this, so...  
  
Thanks to Celebi for proofreading this chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: I'm not Satoshi Tajiri, or Nintendo, so I do not own Pokémon. I own the storyline, and all minor characters however.  
  
Misty's Journey  
By Misty's D  
Chapter 1- Return to Kanto  
  
It was early evening in Kanto. Misty was approaching Viridian Forest from the Viridian City side. The whole area was turning a deeper shade of orange every minute, and the slowly thickening forest's trees began casting dark, eerie shadows everywhere. Misty noted this, and proceeded with caution.  
  
Misty eventually reached the entrance to Viridian Forest, marked with a signpost saying 'You are now entering Viridian Forest. Beware of wild bug Pokémon and bug Pokémon trainers.'   
  
"Oh no! Why do I need to go through here... surely there's a way round?" Misty asked rhetorically, as she looked around frantically for another way, maybe avoiding the forest.  
  
"Toge-priiii!" (Mommy-look out-a bug!) Misty's Togepi chirped, pointing towards a Kakuna dangling from a tree to her left.  
  
"Wha- AARRRGGGH! Get away from me!!!!" Misty screeched, her eyes widening as she saw the Kakuna. She started running in whatever direction her feet took her very quickly.  
  
"Must get... outta... here... FAST!!!" She panted. After 10 minutes of solid running she reached the northern exit from Viridian City, noted by the vast clearing ahead, and the signpost pointing out the obvious: 'You are now leaving Viridian Forest'. Misty stopped right at the edge of the forest, and leant over, panting heavily. She straightened back up after a few seconds to survey the horizon.   
  
Stood above Pewter City on a ledge on Route 2, leading down to Pewter she could scan the horizon for miles- straight ahead were the city's lights twinkling in the dusk, buildings casting long shadows. To the far north were the Kanto Alps- the mountain range, which Mount Moon belonged to. Talking of which, Mount Moon could be seen to the northeast of where Misty was standing. Directly to her left the sun was setting behind Indigo Plateau and Mount Silver, and to the south of the city she noticed the very noticeable Pokémon Centre with the Pokéball mounted on top of the roof.  
  
"Hmmm, I think I should get to the Pokémon centre. It's getting pretty late, and   
  
I'm tired." Misty thought aloud, and began to walk down the slope towards Pewter City.  
  
Misty entered through the glass automatic doors onto the polished marble foyer floor. She walked up to the desk, and was greeted by an ever-cheerful Nurse Joy.  
  
"Hello Misty. Long time no see! Where's Ash?"  
  
"He's back in Johto, preparing himself for the League in a few months. Would it be possible to have a room for 1 tonight?" Misty asked politely. Joy nodded, before disappearing behind the desk, and coming back with a set of keys. She handed them to Misty.  
  
"Here you go. It's room 29, at the end of the corridor on the left hand side. Would you like something to eat?"  
  
"I sure would!!! Err, well, I mean, yes please..." Misty said enthusiastically, blushing at her outburst. Nurse Joy simply laughed, before walking off to prepare some food for Misty.  
  
'I'd better phone Ash to tell him I'm nearly home. I feel really bad about lying to him yesterday, but he would have a fit if he found out I want to enter the Johto League...' Misty thought to herself. She retrieved her Pokégear from around her neck, and after a series of beeps, the dial tone started up on the Pokégear. As she waited upon Ash answering the phone call, she continued her thoughts.  
  
'Could just see him signing up, first round, Ash vs. me, he would never speak to me again... he absolutely hates liars! Oh, why couldn't I just tell the truth when I left?!' Misty thought, sighing with the final thought.  
  
On the outskirts of Blackthorn City, Ash and Brock, well, Brock was setting up camp. Ash was sat, looking at the small lake a few metres from where he was sat. His face told you he was deep in thought, with the way his eyes weren't budging off the fixated stare at the lake. Suddenly, breaking the silence...  
  
"Ring ring ring, ring ring ring, Phone call! Phone call! Ring ring ring, ring ring ring, Phone call! Phone call!"  
  
"Ash, Phone!" Brock shouted from under the mass of material, which would become their tent.  
  
"I know!!!" Ash shouted back. Ash came out of his deep channel of thought, brought the Pokégear from around his neck and flipped it open.  
  
"Jeez! Interrupt me why don't you? I was busy thinking. Now I can't find the button to answer..." Ash mumbled, searching for the button to answer the call. He finally found it, and pressed the button, and held the speaker to his ear.  
  
"Hello? Who is this?" Ash asked, unsure of who was on the other end.  
  
"Duh! I'm the only person with your number aren't I?" Misty replied, slightly irritated. Ash inwardly punched himself for being so dumb.  
  
"Oh yeah. What ya calling for Mist? Is something the matter?"  
  
"Nothing's the matter. I was just phoning to say that I'm in Pewter City   
  
Pokémon Centre."  
  
"You're in Pewter already? Whoa- you walk fast!" Ash said in awe.  
  
"Heh, I found a shortcut Ash. Cut about a week's travelling into 7 hours." Misty said, grinning. Not that Ash would notice the grin.  
  
"You'll have to show me. Wait- Brock wants to speak to you." Ash replied, noticing Brock holding his hands out for the Pokégear. Ash nodded his head.   
  
"Okay. See ya Ash!" Misty said to Ash, who wasn't on the end of the phone, as Brock just took the Pokégear out of Ash's hands.  
  
"Misty, it's Brock. Are you in Pewter City?" Brock asked hurriedly.  
  
"Yeah, why?" Misty asked, slightly confused.   
  
"I hope this isn't a problem, but tomorrow, could you just check on my family? Make sure my dad's coping alright?"   
  
"Sure, that's no problem. Heh, none at all, I was intending on going to beat the Gym tomorrow as a warm up to get me back into the fighting spirit for Cerulean Gym, before going for the Johto League-"  
  
"What was that Misty?" Brock asked suspiciously  
  
"Well, I don't mean your gym's a walkover, but..."  
  
"No, about Johto. What did you say?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Nothing at all?"  
  
"Yep. I didn't say anything about Johto."  
  
"Whatever Misty, you are a stinking liar on the spot! Tell me now." Brock said, pleased with the sigh of defeat he received from the other end.   
  
"Okay, you win. I'll tell you what I said, but first... is Ash still there?"  
  
"Yep, right now he's staring at me for some funny reason, and now he's frowning for mentioning him." Brock laughed, and Misty did the same.  
  
"Okay, could you get him out of earshot, I don't want him to hear anything okay?"  
  
"No problemo. Ash, could you collect some firewood for cooking? I'll be with you in a mo." Ash nodded at Brock's request.  
  
"Okay. Come on Pikachu."  
  
"Pika!" (Sure!) Pikachu replied cheerfully, bouncing off with Ash.  
  
"I'm back. So, why'd you leave?"  
  
"Okay. You know that when you're younger, and you dream of being the best?" Misty started, to be interrupted by Brock.  
  
"Like Ash did about being a Pokémon Master?"  
  
"Yeah. Well, I also wanted to be a Pokémon Master. I was really hyped up on the idea, and wanted to become a more regular fighter at the Gym for practise. However, my sisters put me down so much I totally lost the dream, until Lance revived it. When my sisters argued that I couldn't keep on fighting the contenders, I got worked up, and on the spur of the moment grabbed my stuff and left."  
  
"Just like that?"  
  
"Yep, just like that."  
  
"So... howcomes you met Ash?"  
  
"Oh! When I left I was just aimlessly travelling wherever my bike and my mind took me... I got to Route 1 somehow after a week of biking, and was stopping for a break, to get some food and calm down a bit."  
  
"So that's how Ash found you..." Brock said knowingly  
  
"Actually, I fished him out of the river... Anyway, when Ash came, and said he was on a Pokémon journey, I remembered why I left home. And now, my dream has gotten the better of me." Misty finished the sentence with   
  
a determined tone in her voice.  
  
"So you mean..."  
  
"Yep, I'm entering the Johto League- after I've trained for a week in Cerulean Gym, seen Professor Elm about a Pokédex and I've collected all the badges!!!"  
  
"Whoa... I always thought you just wanted to be a Water Pokémon Master. But why not the Indigo League?"  
  
"You should know why I couldn't enter that!!!" Misty said, surprised. Brock thought for a moment, before replying.  
  
"Ahhh... it's only in a few weeks time isn't it?"  
  
"Not just that, I'm a Kanto Gym Leader right? I can't enter my own league... unless I am an inactive gym leader for more than 5 years. I haven't quite met that yet, so I'm off for the Johto League instead." Misty finished the explanation.  
  
"Hmm, ah yeah... forgot that rule!" Brock replied, covering the fact he didn't actually know that rule existed. There was some crunching of twigs, and some conversation coming from a few metres away. Suddenly there was an increased volume in a voice.  
  
"PIKACHU!" Ash shouted, blushing from a remark, probably from Pikachu. He walked out into the clearing where their camp was for tonight, carrying a small bundle of twigs.  
  
"Sorry Brock, I could only find these twigs." Ash said unsurely.  
  
"Just a minute!" Brock said to Ash, beckoning with his hand that he was on the phone still.   
  
"You fail to amaze me! Anyway, phone us when you're free, okay?" Brock said hurriedly, halting Misty and his current conversation. Ash's eyes widened, before he held out his hand.  
  
"Can I talk to Misty again? Please?" He asked. Brock sighed, before speaking to Misty again.  
  
"Ash wants to talk to you again. Is that alright?"  
  
"Yeah, for a couple of minutes. Thanks for hearing me out Brock, see ya!" Misty replied cheerily.  
  
"Anytime, Mist! Here ya go Ash." Brock finished, handing the Pokégear back to Ash.  
  
"Thanks. Hi again!" Ash said to Misty.  
  
"You better make it quick! It's nearly 11:00 and I need sleep!" Misty said to Ash slightly irritably.  
  
"You're lying! It's only 6:00!" Ash replied heatedly  
  
"Ash, remember the time difference between Kanto and Johto..."  
  
"Oh yeah..." Ash rubbed his neck before continuing.  
  
"Anyway, I've got a question for ya!"  
  
"Shoot!"  
  
"When are you planning to come back, 'cause I thought that you might come back to watch me in the Johto   
  
League..."  
  
"Aww... ickle Ashy missing me already? Let's put it this way, if I do come back,   
  
I'll be doing more than watching ya, right?"  
  
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Ash said, confused.  
  
"I'd better go, Togepi looks like he's about to scream his head off!!! See ya!"  
  
"Okay. Bye. Call again soon!" With Ash's last word, the Pokégear clicked, ending the phone call. Ash folded the Pokégear up, and returned it back to around his neck.   
  
"What've we got for tea?"  
  
"Err... does mushroom soup sound okay? Tinned mushroom soup?"  
  
"Okay Misty, I'll see you after your fight with Slate. Good luck!" Joy said to Misty, as Misty slung her red drawstring bag over her shoulder, Togepi sat on the counter.   
  
"Thanks a lot Joy, bye!" Misty said, picking up her egg Pokémon from the counter. On the way out Togepi waved at a young Nidoran sat on the lawns of the Pokémon Centre.  
  
It was early morning in Pewter City. Shortly after speaking to Ash on the Pokégear the last night, Misty ate her burger and chips that Nurse Joy had prepared, then went to sleep, resting up for the next day's challenge at   
  
Pewter City Gym. The sun had risen from its resting place behind the horizon, and was basking everywhere in pleasant warmth that is only felt from the sun. The sun was raising a light mist from the ground, drying everywhere out from the light rainfall Pewter City had experienced the night before.  
  
Misty made her way to the city's Pokémon Gym, found in the west of the city. After ten minutes of walking down the increasing busyness of the streets, Misty found the place she was looking for.  
  
From the outside, the gym looked a formidable place. The walls were made from onyx and pewter, in large, rugged boulders. The roof was made from rough Pewter slate, one of the trademarks of Pewter City. The gym however, laid upon well-kept lawns. The path to the Gym doors was made from pale gravel, and to the left of the path was a large chunk of planed limestone with the Pokémon Gym information carved on.  
  
"Hmm... this place has sure changed. I see Brock's dad finally took care of the place..." Misty said to herself as she walked up the gravel path. She stopped at the large rock, and read it.  
  
"Kanto Pokémon League... Pewter City Pokémon Gym... Leader: Flint... Elite 4 Inspection: OUTSTANDING?!"   
  
Misty read out loud, surprised at the inspection result that the Elite 4 had handed to the Gym.  
  
'I remember only dreaming of gaining that inspection level from the Elite 4...' Misty thought bitterly, making her way to the Gym doors. She entered the Gym through the glass automatic doors. She immediately notes the dark,   
  
dank setting, mirroring the conditions in a cave. She could barely see in front of her.  
  
"Who goes there?" A demanding voice echoed throughout the Gym. Misty looked unsure, then remembered that was what Brock had done when Ash and she entered the Gym 3 years ago.  
  
"I- I'm Misty Waterflower of the Cerulean Gym, and I would like a warm up battle before reinstating my duties as head leader in Cerulean!" Misty called out unsure at first, but confidence growing in her voice.  
  
"Of course Misty! I'm Flint, Brock's Dad, and the Pewter Gym Leader." Flint called out, as lights switched on, lighting the dreary arena. The arena floor was made from dirt, with large boulders pointing out of the ground throughout. The arena was marked out with white paint, and the central Pokéball was painted red and green, representing the two opponent's teams. On the right hand wall of the gym, quite high up were seats for spectators to watch the battle from without getting injured by the attacks between the two competitors.   
  
"Just a minute, and we'll get started. Be right back," Flint said, walking through the door under the spectator seats. He returned a minute later with a League official, wearing a black long sleeved polo shirt with white collar and sleeve ends. The pocket on the left side of the shirt had the Kanto League Insignia stitched on- a red and white Pokéball with Kanto League Official in white around the ball. The official also wore black shorts and trainers.  
  
"Misty, is three on three okay with you?" Flint asked. She nodded her head in reply.  
  
"This Pewter Gym battle between Flint Slate of the Pewter Gym and the contender Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City is about to begin. The battle rules are three Pokémon each, contender may switch out Pokémon whenever, Gym Leader cannot. No time limit. Let the match begin!" The referee announced, bringing both flags down quickly.  
  
"Okay then, let's give you a go, Togepi!" Misty called. Togepi, sat on the sidelines, got up and looked at its trainer.  
  
"Togi togi?" (Why me, Mommy?) Misty crouched down to get down to a better level for the Pokémon.  
  
"It's just for experience, you'll be okay." Misty whispered. Togepi nodded, and waddled onto the battlefield.  
  
"Thought you would know better than to send an Egg into battle. Go, Onix!" Flint shouted. His command reverberated throughout the large arena, the echoes matching how a voice would echo through a cave. Flint picked a Pokéball off his belt, and threw it into the arena. Upon hitting the floor, the Pokéball split open along the grey seam, and emitted a red light, which gathered half a metre from the ball on the floor. The light stopped coming from the Ball, and it closed up again. Once all the light had gathered, it went wavy for a second, and once it had stopped an Onix shape had formed. As soon as the red light had diminished, the Onix, its body consisting of boulders, cocked its head up to face the ceiling, and let out a loud, long roar.  
  
"Okay then Togepi, come on back, you got your experience," Misty said reassuringly to the Pokémon, waddling back off the arena. Misty opened her drawstring bag, and shuffled through it a moment, before bringing out two   
  
Pokéballs. She put one in her pocket, and the other one she kept in her hand.  
  
"Alright then, let's go Poliwhirl!!" Misty shouted, throwing the Pokéball up in the air. When the Pokéball hit the ground, it opened up, releasing Poliwhirl. It stood up straight, and flexed its arms threateningly.  
  
"Whirpoli!" (Let's do this!) Poliwhirl shouted.  
  
"That's the spirit Poliwhirl. Now- use Water Gun!" Misty commanded, pointing at the target.  
  
"Onix, Bide your time! Don't let a water Pokémon get the better of you!" Flint shouted to his Onix. Onix, with the better speed, coiled up on the floor, and tensed itself for an attack. Poliwhirl jumped up from the floor and shot a stream of highly powered water from the centre of the spiral on its belly. As soon as the water made contact with Onix, he glowed red, and flinched as the water wore his HP down. Misty screwed up her face in thought at this outcome.  
  
'Hmm... if Poliwhirl isn't careful, Onix will knock him out before I get time to...' Misty thought.  
  
"Ah! Poliwhirl! Use Hypnosis, and send Onix to sleep. That way he can't hurt you!" She called out to Poliwhirl.  
  
"Onix, just try and avert your gaze, don't let Poliwhirl beat you!" Flint called. Poliwhirl stood, and started to try and hypnotise Onix through staring him down. Onix was still using Bide, so he couldn't shift from the position he was in, and the Hypnosis worked to perfection. Onix's eyes looked heavy, then suddenly his eyes shut, and his head lolled onto his body, sound asleep. Misty smiled.  
  
"Right, Poliwhirl, this is yours for the taking. Use Water Gun!" Poliwhirl did exactly as he was commanded, and shot another stream of water from his spiral. When the water made contact with Onix, it started to twitch in pain, but was still asleep. When Poliwhirl ended the Water Gun, Onix was still twitching, but after a few seconds he stopped. Poliwhirl stood defiantly, knowing he had won this round, but the referee wanted a closer inspection of the Onix before awarding the win. He walked up to the still Onix, and put a hand near the Pokémon's mouth, checking for breathing. After discovering nothing, he stood back, and held the red flag up, green flag pointed down at the fallen Onix.  
  
"Onix is unable to battle. Poliwhirl wins the round!" Misty grinned with the referee's response.  
  
"Poliwhirl, that's brilliant, well done!!! Do you feel like you can battle the next Pokémon?" Misty's question was answered by a determined nod of the head by Poliwhirl.  
  
"Okay, that was just a mistake on my behalf. Playtime's over Misty, now it's time to put the toys away. Go Omastar!" With the throw of the Pokéball, and another burst of red light, another Pokémon emerged from a Pokéball.  
  
"Staaar!" The blue shell Pokémon waved it's tentacles menacingly, however Poliwhirl remained unfazed by this Pokémon's attempt to unnerve the opposition.  
  
"Okay Omastar, Rollout attack!" Flint called, determined to win this round. A few seconds after the command, Omastar retreated to it's white spiky helix shell and rolled with speed in Poliwhirl's direction.  
  
"Poliwhirl, jump up to dodge it, quick!" Misty called quickly, and just as Poliwhirl would have been hit by the high speed shell, he jumped up in the air. The Omastar spun around 90 degrees before grinding to a halt. The   
  
Omastar has a look of frustration on it's blue face.  
  
"Right Poliwhirl, the only way we can win this is if you put the Omastar to sleep, and go on from there... so use Hypnosis!" Misty thought out loud, before commanding her Pokémon. Poliwhirl stood and stared at Omastar with deep concentration. He then brought his gloved white hands in front of his face, spread his fingers apart, and stared into Omastar's eyes. Flint noticed this, and shouted to Omastar.  
  
"Omastar, try to keep your eyes off Poliwhirl... I know! Withdraw, then follow up immediately with Bubblebeam!" Omastar registered these commands, and pulled itself into the shell. This action was greeted by a curse from Misty. Poliwhirl stopped trying to use Hypnosis, as it had used too much energy on concentrating his power already. Poliwhirl stood there for a few seconds, breathing heavily, waiting for Omastar to return to battle from it's shell.  
  
"Poliwhirl, think you can hold on? Just wait until Omastar comes back out, then use Double Slap right?" Misty asked, slightly concerned over her Pokémon's health. Just as Poliwhirl turned around to pay attention to Misty, Omastar came out of it's shell.  
  
"Poliwhirl, quick, watch out!!!" Misty shouted, as she saw Omastar release a barrage of high power bubbles from it's mouth. Poliwhirl turned around, to be hit in the face by the high power attack, each bubble bursting on contact and draining HP quickly. Omastar only ceased the barrage of bubbles when Poliwhirl started swaying about, finding it difficult to stay on his feet. Omastar watched the stunned Pokémon stagger about, when it was ordered with the final blow.  
  
"Okay Omastar, it'll be impossible to miss this time- use Rollout!" Flint called, knowing this round kept him in the match. Omastar once again retreated to it's shell, and rolled with a lower speed than the previous Rollout at   
  
Poliwhirl. Misty sighed.  
  
"Poliwhirl, I know it may be hard to, but try and dodge the attack," Misty pleaded, not wanting to see her Pokémon fall to a Rock type. To Misty, it would be a great insult for a water type to lose against an element that water types have an advantage over, the beating her pride would take would be unbearable, and would probably leave permanent scars on the pride and confidence she has in her water Pokémon.   
  
Poliwhirl tried to move out of the route Omastar was taking to home in, but failed to do so. Omastar hit Poliwhirl head on, producing a flinch from Misty. Almost instantly, Poliwhirl's eyes rolled up into his eyelids, and passed out due to the absence of HP. As Poliwhirl hit the sandy floor with a thud, loose dust flew from underneath the body. The referee watched the fallen Poliwhirl with intent, as Misty watched with a mixture of worry and disgust etched onto her face. Finally, the referee pointed the red flag down towards Poliwhirl, and the green flag in the air.  
  
"Poliwhirl is unable to battle. The round goes to Flint and Omastar, and the current score is tied, with Misty and Flint both on one round." A cheer from the stand above the battlefield greeted the referee's announcement.  
  
'I never knew there was a crowd...' Misty thought, as she looked up at the half full stand. She looked back down at her Poliwhirl.  
  
"Okay Poliwhirl, return. You did well, but now there's a crowd, I think a showstopper can be called for. Staryu, come on out!!!" Misty recalled Poliwhirl with one Pokéball, and threw the second Pokéball to reveal Staryu. The orange starfish Pokémon made a battle call to show Misty it was ready for the first attack.  
  
"Okay Staryu, let's get this started... Rapid Spin attack!!!" Staryu began spinning in mid air, as Omastar began speeding up for the second round of Rollout. They both then accelerated towards each other, and this concluded in a high speed collision. Both Pokémon bounced backwards, and immediately stopped spinning.  
  
"Hmm... they cancelled each other out... if that's so, Omastar, use Spike Cannon!" The Omastar registered the command, and arched it's back to aim one of the spikes at Staryu, before shooting the aimed spike at Staryu. The missing spike quickly regenerated, and also shot at Staryu. Every one of the 4 shots hit Staryu, and took significant HP off the starfish. Flint noticed this by looking at the ruby coloured centre of Staryu, which shows the life force of the Pokémon. When health is normal the gem flickers in rhythm to the pulse of the heart, and remains bright when pulsing. However, presently Staryu's gem was pulsing light slower than usual, meaning the heart was slowing, and also the brightness of the pulsing light was fading. Flint smiled at this.  
  
'This is easier than I thought... the first round was obviously her best I guess,' Flint thought, but this thought quickly changed to a string of curses as Staryu's gem glowed red, then faded into orange, then the rest of the spectrum, all the time white light being absorbed by the gem. By the time the gem glowed violet, the light had stopped being absorbed, and the gem turned back to the normal colour of ruby.  
  
"What's with the frown Flint? All Staryus have Recover... and now, we are going to take this show. Psychic attack Staryu!" Misty called, confidence growing second by second. Staryu stood straight, and suddenly produced a blue aura around Omastar and itself, before using psychic energy to damage Omastar internally.   
  
Misty smiled at the success of the attack. After around 15 seconds of psychically injuring Omastar, Staryu finished the attack, and let Omastar control it's own body again.  
  
"Omastar, use Spike Cannon again, do not hold off!" Flint shouted. Omastar again aimed for the Staryu, who was waiting upon it's next command.  
  
"Err... Staryu, use Rapid Spin, but don't attack Omastar, just use it to deflect the spikes..." Misty called out, unsure on whether her theory would work or not. Staryu obeyed Misty's command, and began spinning in the air, but didn't move towards Omastar. Omastar began shooting spikes at Staryu, but Staryu was spinning with such speed, the spikes just ricochet off Staryu as if it was surrounded by a barrier, and flew back at Omastar at the same velocity. The first spike shot off Staryu and missed Omastar, but the second and third hit it- one in Omastar's yellow cross-opening mouth, and the final spike hit above it's eyes.  
  
"Staryu, Rapid Spin at Omastar now, finish it off!" Misty commanded the final assault on the opposing Pokémon, and Staryu quickly responded, by moving at Omastar with extreme speed, hitting Omastar square in the face. This final offence was too much for Omastar to withstand, and consequently passed out due to depleted HP. As soon as the referee held up the green flag signalling Misty's Pokémon had won the round, the crowd that was slowly increasing in volume let out a gasp of surprise at Flint's Pokémon fainting.  
  
"Well done Misty, but there's still my main Pokémon to bring down... I choose Rhydon!!!" Flint called intimidating as he returned Omastar and sent out the large rhinoceros like creature.   
  
"Rhhhhy!" Rhydon hollered, spinning it's drill like horn. Staryu seemed unfazed, and Misty failed to prevent a grin spreading across her face. She chuckled.  
  
"Staryu, Bubblebeam." Misty said simply, before chuckling some more. Flint frowned.  
  
"What's the problem Misty? Rhydon, use Fury Attack" Flint commanded Rhydon as if it was unimportant at that moment. He wanted to know what was so funny to Misty.  
  
"It's just... Rhydon is too easy to beat for my Staryu. It's a rock and ground type, and water is just too powerful... I don't mean to sound bigheaded but this battle is mine." Misty replied, as a barrage of bubbles emerged from Staryu, and hit Rhydon with force. The way that Rhydon was reacting to the water bubbles bursting on his thick skin, you could tell he wouldn't be standing by the end of the attack, even the thick skin Rhydons have covering their skeleton wouldn't prevent water being super effective against them.  
  
Sure enough, near the end of the Bubblebeam attack, Rhydon was unable to keep it's balance, and before the attack ended, Rhydon had slumped to the floor unconscious.  
  
"Rhydon is unable to battle. The winner of this match is contender Misty!!!" The referee called, to the crowd's disappointment. A few groans and comments emerged from the quickly emptying stand, as Misty and Flint both took their Pokéballs and returned their Pokémon to their resting places, not before congratulating their fighting partners however. Misty picked up Togepi, who had been watching the battle from the floor, made her way over to Flint, who was approaching the centre of the arena himself. Once they reached each other, Misty held out her   
  
hand for a handshake, after all, it was only polite.  
  
"Well done Misty! That was a good battle, haven't had one from an experienced trainer in quite a while." Flint said, shaking Misty's hand.  
  
"And you pleasantly surprised me!" Flint continued, tickling Togepi's cheek.  
  
"Togi Togi Prrrrriiii!!!!" Togepi replied, pleased to get some recognition. Misty smiled.  
  
"I'm not really that much of an experienced trainer, I haven't fought in a few months, so this was a bit of a return to reality of battling I guess. But it's nice to see I haven't lose my Kanto Gym Leader battling abilities..." Misty   
  
said, winking. Flint laughed.  
  
"I wouldn't like to battle you after you've been back at the gym again... I don't think any of my Pokémon would last more than two attacks..." Flint replied, laughing nervously.  
  
"I think it's going to take a little bit more time to get back to normal with battling, as I haven't fought regularly since I left Cerulean three years ago..." Misty sighed, remembering the scene. There were a few seconds of stony   
  
silence, before Misty remembered a message she was required to pass on.  
  
"Oh! Flint, Brock says he would like you to get in touch with him as soon as possible. I'll give you Ash's Pokégear number so you can talk to him." Misty said.  
  
"Okay, just program it into this then, all us Gym Leaders have been given a Pokégear by the League... where are they now?" Flint asked, bringing a Pokégear out of his trouser pocket and handed it to Misty, who immediately   
  
got onto programming the number in.  
  
"Oh, when I left we were in Blackthorn City, and Ash is about to fight in the Johto League in three months..." Misty replied, as the Pokégear beeped, registering the number. She handed it back to Flint, who returned it to his   
  
pocket.  
  
"Thanks Misty, I'll phone him as soon as I shut up the Gym tonight. I understand you'll want to be getting off, right?"  
  
"Yeah, I want to get to Cerulean for tonight... and I'd better go, there's a contender..." Misty said, pointing out a trainer walking up to Flint.  
  
"okay, well, thanks for the battle, it was refreshing. I hope you do well with the Gym, I've been hearing bad things about it recently... get it back up to standard!!!" Flint finished. Misty smiled, before speaking.  
  
"Okay, thank you also, and I hope I'll see you soon... bye!" She said as she turned to leave.  
  
"Good luck Misty!!!" Flint called after her. As Misty walked past the trainer making his way to Flint, she looked into his freckled face, and smiled.  
  
"I hope you have some strong water Pokémon on you, that Rhydon... it is the toughest I've ever seen, and it took ages to pass out..." Misty said, releasing butterflies in the young trainer's stomach.  
  
I really do hope that you see an improvement in the quality of this chapter, I am confident you will do, as there's probably about... 4000 word's difference between them, but it's quality, not quantity. Tell me what you think in a review please, I will reply, if you give me an address to reply to.  
  
Expect either the prologue, or the next part to be next to go under the knife, I have got a very solid plot for the next chapter, but after starting it three times over the past year, and not liking the outcome, I'm leaving new work for a while, until I've sorted out the start to this story. I know a few of you will be cross at this, but I really do think the start to the story needs a good sorting out to keep up with the newer parts.  
  
I hope you enjoyed, and until the next time I update... ciao.   
  
Misty's D


	3. Chapter 3 An Apple A Day

Me: Hi yet again! Seeing as I lost *so* much time with the stupid SATS, I've decided to press on with the story!  
  
Misty: Aye, and that's good, right?  
  
Me: And to make sure I finish this in the *near* future, there's no sleep for me until I finish this!  
  
Misty: Really? How long do you think it's going to take you to complete this?  
  
Me: I'd say… another 2 hours!!!  
  
Misty: Whoa!!!  
  
Disclaimer: Nope, I still haven't got enough money to buy the rights to Pokemon, so I don't own it, okay?  
  
Oh yeah, has anybody seen all the new screenshots of Pokémon advance? If not, then go to www.pokemasters.com, coz they've got a fair few!!!  
  
Misty's Journey by Misty's Double  
  
Chapter 3- An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away…  
  
(A/n I'm taking on board Morbane's review, and I'm going to begin writing in story style again. (Thanx 4 all the other reviews, Morbane!) Bear with me while I adjust my writing style again…)  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
Two weeks have passed since we last saw Misty and her little gang, and Ash and co. on their journeys. Not much has happened, apart from Beth waiting behind in Violet until she beats Falkner, then meeting up again with Misty and Mark in Azalea's Pokémon Center.  
  
That's about Misty and co. But what about Ash, Brock and Jo, now those two weeks have passed? Well, all is about to be revealed…  
  
Ash, Jo and Brock are outside New Bark Town. They're in a forest, supposedly 'training', but instead, they're enjoying the peaceful summer weather by a river. All the Pokémon are out, enjoying the sun.  
  
"This weather is like what you'd expect in the Orange Islands in August, not Johto in May!" Jo thought aloud.  
  
"Hey Jo, don't complain! Come into the river with us, it's brilliant!" Ash shouted back.  
  
"Isn't it cold?"  
  
"Not at all" Brock replied to Jo  
  
"Hmm, I know, I could train my water Pokémon in the river!" Jo said to Ash  
  
"How many have you got?" Ash asked  
  
"Let's see- Starmie, Politoed, Corsola, Gyarados- that's four."  
  
"Misty's got more than you."  
  
"I'm not surprised."  
  
Jo jumped in the water after releasing her prized water Pokémon.  
  
"Hey Jo, nice Gyarados, just don't set Gyarados onto me, okay?" Ash warned her  
  
"Why would I do that? Besides, why are you scared of my Gyarados?"  
  
"Lets just say, I'm not too keen on them after what one did to Misty in the Lake of rage. It dragged her under, and she emerged barely conscious! We had to take her to hospital." (A/n, just say this happened, okay? It hasn't happened in an episode, only there is something going on in a Lake of Rage ep soon!)  
  
"Well Ash, I'd never do that to you, unless you do something bad. I've never used my Gazza's powerful attacks, they're only for emergencies!" Jo informed.  
  
"Gazza?!"  
  
"Yeah. All my Pokémon have nicknames. Gyarados is Gazza, Starmie is called Ruby, and Politoed is called Hoppy, and Corsola's called Corsy, aren't ya?"  
  
"Sola!" [Yes!]  
  
Ash and Jo begin training their water Pokémon, first with a water gun showdown, then agility and swimming contests. Afterwards, Ash and Jo have a water fight while Brock begins preparing tea.  
  
"So guys, what ya want for tea tonight?" Brock asks  
  
"How about having a bbq?" Jo replies  
  
"Sounds good to me!" Ash butts in  
  
"Okay, just go find me some firewood you two." Brock orders.  
  
*30 minutes later*  
  
"Jo, pass us the last two sausages."  
  
"Ash you greedy pig, you've already had seven sausages. Let me and Brock have some first."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"Ash, quit the puppy dog look. That doesn't work!"  
  
"Did with Misty!" Ash pouted  
  
"Not with us. Besides Misty had a soft spot for ya!" Brock replied matter- of-factly  
  
"But I thought she hated me!"  
  
"Look Ash, why when we were in Lavender Tower, was she crying when you woke up? Because she cares for you. When you jumped between Mew and Mewtwo, I had to hold her back. Why? Because she cares for you. When you drowned on Lugia's back, why did she rescue you? She cares for you. When you were about to fall out of Molly's house because of Entei, why did she grab hold of you, because she-"  
  
"Okay, okay, I get the picture. But I always thought she didn't care at all about me, it was because she wanted her bike!" Ash interrupted  
  
"That was just an excuse to follow you."  
  
"A lame one at that, but I guess it worked with old sawdust head here." Jo added rubbing Ash's head.  
  
"Anyway, please can I have a sausage?"  
  
"NO!" Jo and Brock simultaneously reply.  
  
Immediately after this, Jo and Ash start fighting over the sausage, which Pikachu sneakily eats, absolutely smothered in ketchup. He finds it difficult, seeing as he's got a plaster on his arm…  
  
* * * * *  
  
While Ash Jo and Brock were enjoying the weather, Mark and Beth were in Azalea Pokémon Center admiring their Hive badges.  
  
"Wow, I can't believe we've already got two badges!" Beth said, admiring her new Hive badge.  
  
"I know. Bugsy's really easy, isn't he (A/n Actually, I don't know whether Bugsy's a he or a she! ^_^;;)  
  
*In Azalea Gym*  
  
"The contender Misty is on her final Pokémon, as is Bugsy." The announcer announced. (Errrm… what else do announcers do?)  
  
"Time to finish this off. Go Scyther!" Bugsy called as his prized Pokémon made an appearance in the arena. Misty had lost her Pichu to Metapod, and her Staryu beat up Ledian.  
  
"I think it's time for you to sweep up the floor. Go Poliwhirl!!!" Misty called confidently  
  
"Scyther, swords dance attack!"  
  
"Belly drum, Poliwhirl!" Misty said as Scyther pumped up for the next attack.  
  
"Now, Slash!"  
  
"Dodge it, then Doubleslap followed by Body Slam!" Misty called to her Poliwhirl. It did exactly as it was told, and knocked out Scyther, no problems at all!  
  
*Back at the Pokémon Center*  
  
"Hey Misty, how did ya do?" Mark called to Misty as she came through the doors.  
  
"I won, what else could you expect from me?" Misty replied, full of herself.  
  
"After a treatment, we should be ready to go to Goldenrod, huh?" Beth added  
  
"Yeah."  
  
*On route 34*  
  
Team Rocket is on Route 34, after seeing Misty and co. in Ilex forest. They're putting their new plan into action for their next attack, assuming Pikachu's with them…  
  
"It's been three weeks since we last saw the twerp trio, and this time, there's no way they can stop us from stealing Pikachu! Especially not with the plan we're cooking up!" Jessie sneered  
  
"Eee heeehee hee! (That's supposed to be the silly laugh James does. ^_^;) Say hello to promotion teammates-" James was interrupted  
  
"Shh! Dey're comin' Jimmy boy! Let's go and win dat cat toy!!" Meowth says.  
  
Misty Mark and Beth walk along the road, when…  
  
"Prepare for trouble!"  
  
"And make it double!"  
  
"Shuddup already! They've only heard your motto a thousand times!" Meowth complained  
  
"Grrr… you big furball!" Jessie shouted  
  
Jessie, James and Meowth jumped out of a nearby bush; in front of them is a hole, which is part of their plan.  
  
"Err… who are you guys?" Mark asked  
  
"I'd like to ask the same question to yous guys. Why's only twerpette here, while twerp 1 and 2 aren't?" Meowth asked also.  
  
"Cool- a talking Meowth!" Beth exclaimed  
  
"I've heard it all before. They're Team Rocket. No big deal." Misty said like it wasn't any big thing  
  
"US??? NO BIG DEAL? WHY YOU…" Jessie exclaimed  
  
"Jessie, take a chill pill! (That's my fave quote from 'The Joy of Water Pokémon'! ^_^) What about the plan?" James hissed  
  
"Ahem. Sorry little runt- I mean girl, why don't you step up to the battle arena, and we'll settle this with a Pokémon battle. If I win, we get all your Pokémon. If I lose, then we won't bother you again, ever!" Jessie said slyly, with a smirk.  
  
"Misty, what ya going to do?" Beth asked worriedly  
  
"I'm having the battle. Ash can beat these clowns easily, so I don't see why I can't!" Misty said, while walking up to the arena, and edging closer to the pitfall.  
  
"Bring it on Carrothead!" James called.  
  
As soon as he said that, Misty burst with anger, and stormed over to them.  
  
"That's it… come closer, tee hee hee!" Meowth quietly said.  
  
"For the last time, I'M NOT A- WHOA!" Misty exclaimed as the ground suddenly moved from underneath her, revealing a massive pitfall.  
  
"MISTY!!!" Beth and Mark shouted at the same time, as Misty landed with a sickening thud.  
  
"Are you okay?" Beth called from the edge. No answer came up.  
  
"Right. Mark, you battle these prats. I'm going down to see if Misty's alright!" Beth called as she began the descent down the wall.  
  
As Beth was climbing down, Mark began battling Team Rocket.  
  
"Misty, can you hear me?"  
  
When Beth asked this, no answer still came up.  
  
"Mark, we really need to get help for Misty. Finish them off!" Beth called up.  
  
"Alright Beth, I'm trying my hardest!" Mark replied. Beth was making sure Misty's vital signs were there, when:  
  
"Arbok, use your Poison Sting attack!" Arbok was very close to the edge, and when Mark's Pokémon dodged the attack, some of the needles came down into the hole, and some landed on Misty. When Mark went to attack Arbok, Team Rocket shouted:  
  
"Looks like Team Rocket are blasting off again!" Team Rocket had forfeited the match, and was running off from the scene. Mark slowly climbed down the side of the hole.  
  
"How is she?" He asked  
  
"Well, what does it look like?! Sorry, I've checked her pulse, and it's still there, but her breathing's really shallow. When Poison sting was used, some hit her. She needs help fast!" Beth said with worry in her voice.  
  
"Hey, doesn't Misty have one of those Pokégears? She calls this boy doesn't she? I know- we can call for an ambulance!" Mark said, and began looking in Misty's bag. He found it and began phoning for some help.  
  
*15 minutes later*  
  
In the distance, you could hear a siren from an ambulance.  
  
"Look here it comes!" Beth called down to Mark.  
  
"Okay. Misty's not any better." He called back.  
  
When the ambulance arrived, Beth flagged them down. Out of the ambulance came two Nurse Joys, carrying a stretcher.  
  
"Okay, is this Misty?" One Joy asked.  
  
"Yes. She fell down the hole, and she's unconscious. She was also hit by a Poison Sting attack." Beth informed.  
  
"Misty, can you hear me? If you can, squeeze my finger, okay?" Joy 1 said. Misty didn't do anything.  
  
"Okay, Joy, we'll bring the stretcher down to Misty. She's definitely out cold." Joy 2 said. They sent the stretcher down, and placed Misty on it after checking her.  
  
"Right, can you help us bring the stretcher up to the ambulance?" Joy 1 asked.  
  
"Okay." Mark and Beth simultaneously answered. When Misty was up out of the ambulance, Beth asked  
  
"She is going to be okay, right?"  
  
"We'll do our best. We're not quite sure of the extent of injury yet, but we'll try." Joy 1 reassured Beth.  
  
Mark and Beth began following Joy 1 into the back of the ambulance, when she said  
  
"Sorry, you'll have to find your own way to the hospital."  
  
"That's okay" Mark replied.  
  
*In Goldenrod District Hospital*  
  
Beth and Mark had just arrived. They made their way to the reception.  
  
"Excuse me, has a Misty errrm, do you know her surname?" Mark asked  
  
"It's alright. She's one with ginger hair, right?" The lady replied  
  
"Yeah. Do you know what's up with her?"  
  
"Not at the moment. I saw her being rushed into the emergency room with two Joys. But if you could wait in the waiting room, I'll tell the Dr. Barton you've arrived. He's in charge of her."  
  
"Thanks." Beth said as they walked to the waiting room.  
  
"Do you think Misty's going to be alright?" Beth asked Mark anxiously.  
  
"I don't know. Hopefully." Mark asked, as the pair walked into the waiting room. They sat down, not knowing what to say, so they both picked up a magazine. After about half an hour, Dr. Barton walked in.  
  
"Excuse me, are you with Misty?" He asked  
  
"Yes we are. How is she?" Mark said  
  
"She's in a coma. The poison in her body can be life threatening, but she's stable for now, and she's also dislocated her left shoulder, broken her left arm just below the elbow, and broken a bone in her hand, along with her left thumb." Dr. Barton informed.  
  
"Oh no!" Mark said  
  
"Well, I guess she landed on her left arm then." Beth said.  
  
"Is there anybody we could call, just to inform them about her?"  
  
"Well, she calls this boy called Ash. His numbers on her Pokégear. Here, do you want it?" Beth replied.  
  
"Yeah, I'll go and call him. Thanks." Dr. Barton said, taking the Pokégear, and left the room.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ash, Jo and Brock are at a Pokémon center outside Dark Cave. It's beginning to get dark, and they're sat in their room, watching the Indigo League. It's a quarterfinal game between Melissa and Mandy the Astounding.  
  
"Come on Melissa, beat the idiot!" Ash shouted at the TV.  
  
"Ash, calm down!" Jo said  
  
"You haven't seen the worst of him. This is nothing!" Brock said to Jo. Ash's eyes were practically glued to the screen. Mandy's 2nd Pokémon went down when the Pokégear began to ring. Ash reluctantly answered it.  
  
"Misty- make it snappy, coz we're watching the Indigo league!" Ash said, half expecting a mouthful off Misty.  
  
"Ash, will ya go outside with that- we can't hear the TV." Brock complained  
  
"Fine!" Ash pouted, as he walked out of the room. Ash wasn't expecting the answer at the other end of the phone that he got.  
  
"I'm sorry, this isn't Misty. It's Dr. Barton at Goldenrod District Hospital." Dr. Barton said  
  
"Why do you want me?"  
  
"It's about your friend Misty. Earlier today, she was caught up in an ambush by Team Rocket, and fell down a pothole, and was caught up in a Poison Sting attack."  
  
"How's she doing?" Ash asked, concerned.  
  
"Well that's why I've phoned. She's not doing too well; in fact, she's in a coma at the moment. I'd advise that you come visit, because there is a chance, that she might not pull through."  
  
"Okay… thanks. We'll be up as soon as possible." Ash said, turning off the Pokégear. He walked back in the room.  
  
"What's up Ash? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Jo joked.  
  
"It's Misty…" Ash managed to whisper  
  
"What about her?" Brock began to worry.  
  
"She's been attacked by Team Rocket. She fell down a pit, and was attacked by Arbok, and she's in a coma. The doctor said she might not pull through. We've gotta go see her." Ash replied.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
Sorry for leaving it there, folks! I thought it would be a quite effective ending! ^_~  
  
Anywayz, please R&R, and no flames, as per usual!  
  
The new chapter will be up soon, but until then- see yaz! ^_^ 


	4. Side Chapter Dear Diary

Me: Hi again! Sorry for the cliffhanger at the end of last chapter, but I'm also sorry that I'm not carrying on with the main story yet, but I'm doing a side- chapter instead! He he he...^_^;   
Misty: That's mean! (Pulls out mallet) I guess I'm just going to have to consult my best friend, my little mallet...  
Me: It's okay, honest! The next chapter's on its way, really soon! Just don't whack me right?  
Misty: Oh well. Guess I can't hit you then!  
  
Disclaimer: Still don't own Pokémon, coz if I did, and a lot of other peeps have said this too, Ash and Misty would have got together a long, long time ago...  
  
Misty's Journey  
By Misty's Double  
Side chapter- Dear Diary...  
  
With this chapter, you don't need to read the whole story so far, but you do need a basic idea of the storyline. This chapter has a number of diary entries from Ash and Misty, since Misty left Ash to go round Johto to compete in the League...and it also fills you in on Pokémon captures, and in between chapters.  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
Thursday May 12th 2002 ~*Days to Johto League... 92*~  
  
Dear Diary,  
Sorry I haven't written to you since... well, since my first day as a trainer!  
I've become a much better trainer since then, but the worst things happened to me today. Out of the blue, Misty goes and leaves us to go back to Cerulean. It's typical, because I was planning to admit my feelings to her right before the Johto League, whether she rejects me or not is another question...  
Anyhow, I'm beginning to wonder whether it's the way I've been acting towards her, or maybe I said some thing to her. Or it might be the fact she hasn't been herself since the Gyarados at the Lake of Rage attacked her. God, I was petrified watching the Gyarados have hold of her, trying to drown her...  
Anyway, she just disappeared to the Pokémart earlier this morning, and when we find her, she just hands me a Pokégear, and tells me she's leaving to go back to Cerulean! It was horrible when she started walking towards New Bark Town. She was alone, and I swear she was crying. I guess that makes two of us...  
I'm worried, because I've got a bad feeling something's not going to be the same if- no, I can't think negative- when she returns...  
I'm beginning to wonder about Pikachu, because lately she's suddenly lost weight. It's happened since she ran off two weeks ago when she had the fat belly, and returned exhausted!  
I must go now, we're starting a new training regime for the Johto League tomorrow, so it's early to bed for us!  
  
Ash  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Thursday May 12th 2002  
  
Dear Diary,   
Today must have been the worst day of my life, except from on Shamuti Island, I was   
*so* cruel to him! Anyway, last night, I remembered my childhood dream to enter the Leagues, and well, this morning, out of the blue, I left Brock and Ash in Blackthorn City to begin the Johto League. The thing is, if Ash finds out about me going round Johto to enter the League, he'd never speak to me again! I've just told him that I'm going back to Cerulean to become a better water Pokémon trainer. I've already let slip to Brock about my true intentions, and it's only a matter of time before I tell Ash...   
I'm writing this in Pewter City Pokémon Center, coz I found a shortcut to Kanto. Brock's asked me to see how his family's doing. I'll do that after I've beaten his Dad!  
Okay, I'd better go, Togepi looks starving!  
See ya!  
  
Misty xxx  
  
P.S I LUV ASH 4EVA!!  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Thursday 26th May 2002 ~*Days to Johto League... 78*~  
  
Dear Diary,  
It's been two weeks since Misty left us to go back to Cerulean, and I've been feeling terrible since. It's just as if- there's a part of me missing, just been killed off when she left. But it's been replaced by a weird feeling. One I didn't have when Brock stayed behind at Prof. Ivy's lab. I'll ask Brock about it tomorrow.  
Another bad thing is Pikachu's had her arm broken in battle last week. Nurse Joy's told me strictly no battles for her until about two days before the league... oh well.  
On a good note however, we've got a new traveling mate. She's called Jo, and is entering the league too. What I found spooky was this...  
1- She's from Cerulean  
2- She's Richie's twin sister  
3- She likes (that's an understatement!) water Pokémon (This is where it gets real spooky...)  
4- Most of all, she was Misty's best mate!!!  
How weird is that!!! Apparently, her and Misty have been mates for years... around 9 or 10, but when Misty ran away from her sisters, the whole town assumed Misty was dead. That sums up why Misty's sisters were erratic when we arrived the first time...  
Jo's Corsola is *really* strong!!!!  
Anyway, better go. Bye!  
  
Ash  
  
~~~~~~  
  
26/05/02  
  
Dear Diary,  
Well, here I am, halfway between Violet and Azalea, on my own Pokémon journey. It feels weird, but at least I'm not on my own. These kids who battled me when I was in the gym a couple of weeks back joined me- they're called Beth and Mark. We've all beaten Falkner already.  
I've got a starter pokemon off of Prof. Elm, along with a Pokédex. She's a real cute Pichu! It's so cute, and she's even cuter when she's playing with Togepi. She's about 8 weeks old, and I've decided to ask Ash for a nickname to call it on my birthday.  
Apart from that, I've already caught new Pokémon- Bellsprout, Qwilfish, and when I was at Cerulean Gym; my sisters gave me back my Horsea, to find it was a Kingdra!!! How on earth did they get hold of a dragon scale? I'm grateful anyways...  
Not much else has happened; apart from I sprained my ankle falling out of a tree when a Caterpie decided to freak me out! God, I hate bugs.  
I've phoned Ash a few times, and vice-versa. I'm missing him terribly, even the fights we have. I'm missing Brock too, but not as much as I am missing Ash... I don't have the same feelings towards Brock as I do towards Ash.  
Until next time, bye!  
  
Misty xxx  
  
~~~~~~  
  
1st June 2002 ~*Days to Johto League... 73*~  
  
Dear Diary,   
Today, we began the trek to Indigo Plateau. We've just got past Tohjo Falls, and Pikachu went off looking around, sniffing. She's acting weird at the moment...  
Anyway, we've stopped off on Route 27 to have dinner. I've fought *twelve* trainers so far today, and haven't lost once! Jo says I'm beginning to get bigheaded. Brock just says I'm constantly bigheaded... oh well. Tomorrow, Jo and me are having a three on three battle, like in the League. I can't wait to see her team...  
Oh, about two hours ago, we passed this really unusual Dewgong. It bobbed its head out the water, and it's colours are so amazing! You know they're usually white with brown eyes; well this one's a really pale grey, with the most stunning blue eyes! Anyway, I remembered it's Misty's birthday soon, so I caught it for her. It's lovely and affectionate. I think she'll love it when she comes back... whenever that'll be...  
I'm gonna go now, we're getting to the nearest Pokémon Center for tomorrow 'coz the Indigo League's into the fifth round already!  
Bye!  
  
Ash  
  
~~~~~~  
  
1/6/02  
  
Dear Diary,   
I'm fighting for the Hive Badge tomorrow! I've been gone for three weeks, and I'm already a quarter through the gyms!  
My Pichu's doing really well. Every time I leave a town, I need to get her checked on because she's so young. She's so cute!!! I've noticed that she acts a *little* bit like Ash's Pikachu, but I think it's just how the Pika family act. She's beginning to be able to take the strain of shocking herself with electricity. I've decided that when we get to Goldenrod, I'll call Ash to ask him to suggest a nickname.  
Anyway, I've now got a Doduo, Abra and Vulpix in my arsenal of Pokémon. I'm going to start using in my team-  
Togepi, Pichu, Poliwhirl (but he'll be switched from time to time with the other Water pokemon), Doduo, Vulpix and Abra. It's a well-balanced team, huh?  
I need to go now. I'm getting my Pokémon treated for tomorrow.  
See ya!  
Misty xx  
  
~~~~~~  
  
2nd June 2002   
  
Dear Diary,   
This is going to be quick today.  
We just got a call while watching the Indigo League that Misty's been involved in an ambush by Team Rocket, and was brought into Goldenrod District. Apparently she's in a coma, and is in really bad shape. We're about to leave now, and we're hoping to reach Goldenrod tomorrow morning at the latest. I'm going to phone Prof. Oak to see if he's got a flying type that can take us on it.  
  
Ash.  
  
*12am*  
I'm back. We're on route 32, trying to sleep. I've got Pidgeot back, so me and Brock flew on him. Jo went on her Dodrio, because it's so fast even though it can't fly. Pikachu flew on Noctowl. The other two appear to be asleep, but I can't stop thinking what's going to happen to Misty. I partly want to know why exactly she's in Goldenrod... anyways, can't think of that now. I've gotta think positive- for Misty's sake, like Brock said.  
He's in shock about what's happened, but when I told Jo, she burst out crying. She's taken this badly.  
Anyway, I'm gonna go now.  
Bye,  
Ash  
  
*~*~*~*~*  
  
There we are, I hope that's filled in some blanks on the storyline! Did anyone see the England and Brazil match? Boohoo... ;_;sorry, I'm English, and when I turned up at school after the match this morning, even my German teacher had been crying... and he has no heart!  
Everyone seems to know the score- they've seen it all before  
They just know, they're so sure;  
That England's going to throw it away,   
Going to blow it a way, but I know they can play;  
'Cos I remember  
* * *  
3 Lions on a shirt;  
Jules Rimmet still gleaming  
30 years of hurt  
Never stops me dreaming.  
* * *  
So many jokes, so many smears,  
But all those 'oh- so nears'  
Wear you down through the years;  
But I still see that tackle by Moore & when Linekar scores,   
Bobby belting the ball, and Nobby dancing...  
* * *  
3 lions on a shirt,  
Jules Rimmet still gleaming   
30 years of hurt  
Never stops me dreaming.  
  
It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming...  
  
Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system!  
Now with this chappy over, onto the proper chapter!  
Expect it soon! 


	5. Chapter 4 The Return Of Ash

Me: Hello… I'm evil for making you wait for this chapter aren't I? It's been a long time coming, but here it is… \ _ / I'm really, really sorry for the wait guys…

Anyways, I'll get on with it, and obviously Misty can't be here today. If you don't know why, go read this story again. Instead, we have the best Bellsprout around- Ash!

Ash: Thanks everyone… wait! You called me Bellsprout… I kinda don't like it…

Me: Whatever Ashy… On with the story now!

Ash: …

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Pokémon. I might if I get as far as I want to when I'm older i.e. becoming a big bod for Nintendo, but then the franchise would probably be proper dead!

**Misty's Journey by Misty's Double.**

**Chapter 4- The Return of Ash…**

*~*~*~*~*

Last time, we saw Misty being taken away to hospital, in a coma, and poisoned by Arbok's Poison Sting, all because of Team Rocket's stupid plan to capture Pikachu, when Ash isn't even there. Now on with the story…

*Goldenrod District Hospital waiting room*

Ash, Brock and Jo have only just arrived at the hospital, after finding out about Misty. It's about 6am. They enter the waiting room together.

"This brings back painful memories," Jo said to nobody, remembering when Misty near enough drowned in her own pool in Cerulean. Ash didn't answer. He was just sat on the chair, staring at the opposite wall. On the other side of the room were Beth and Mark. They noticed Ash, and Beth whispered

"Mark- I think that's Ash. Shall we leave them to it, because Misty will understand if we leave them to it, if she comes to."

"Okay, we'll go to the Pokémon Center for some sleep then. At least Misty's got someone with her now." Mark replied. The two got up and walked out of the waiting room.

Ash was still staring at the opposite wall an hour later, when Brock asked

"Ash, do you want anything to eat? I'm off to go get something for me and Jo."

Ash still didn't reply.

"Ash. Come on. Staring at the wall won't help Misty or make the doctor come any quicker. Answer what Brock just asked you!" Jo said angrily.

"Hmm." Ash replied.

"What? Ash, say yes or no!" Jo fumed

"Yes! I want a double cheeseburger, right? Now leave me alone!" Ash retorted. He settled back down, and stared at the door.

"Ash, just stop being so lame, okay? Make some use of yourself instead of staring. Go ask the receptionist or someone about Misty! Just, stop being useless! It won't help Misty!" Jo angrily replied. Ash then began to cry.

"Ash, what's up? I'm so sorry. I'm just worried. Is it something I said?" She comforted.

"No… it's just… I'm worried about… Misty… what if she doesn't pull through?" Ash said between sobs.

"Ash, we're all worried. We've just got to stay strong… for Misty." Jo replied while putting an arm around his shoulder. 

"Yeah." Ash said, picking up an issue of Pokémon Trainer Monthly. He flicked through the pages, and stopped on a page with an article titled: 'Team Rocket 00 Agent found murdered'.

"That's not a surprise." A voice came from behind the two. Brock was looking over their shoulders.

"By the way, I've got your food." He continued.

"All right, cheeseburgers!" Ash said. They all ate their food, and when the novelty of cheeseburgers wore off Ash, he carried on looking at the magazine.

"Here Ash, is there anything on water Pokémon in that magazine?" Jo asked to make conversation.

"Yeah, there's something about caring for Gyarados…" Ash stopped, as it reminded him of Misty.

"Oh… Look Ash. Why don't you come with me to ask a nurse about Misty?" Jo asked

"Alright. We'll be back soon, okay?" Ash said. The two got up to go when Dr. Barton came through the door.

"Hello, oh you three must be Ash Jo and Brock. I'm Dr. Barton, Misty's consultant." He began

"Hello. What's wrong with her then?" Ash asked nervously.

"Well, we've managed to stabilize her, and we know the full extent of injury near enough now. If you'd like to follow me, I'll show you the extent in x-rays." He replied

* * * * 

"Okay, if you look here, you will see that Misty has broken her lower arm below the elbow just here" Dr Barton said pointing to the x-ray "And she's fractured the ulna and broken her radius above her wrist. Also, she's broke the bone just above the elbow, shattered most of her hand, broken her thumb, and had a bad knock to her shoulder, all on her left arm."

"Is that all?" Ash asked

"Well you know about her being in a coma, and being poisoned, don't you?"

"We didn't know she had actually been poisoned. Would we be able to see her?" Jo asked

"Not right now. She's just about to go into surgery for mending her arm. It's going to be quite a long operation, because we practically have to pin her arm together again. Her hand will be the biggest problem though. I'll come to see you once she's out of theatre." Dr Barton said leaving the room.

"I take it we have to go back to the Waiting room then." Brock said sarcastically

* * * *

Misty was laid on a hospital bed; all of her left arm was heavily plastered apart from her hand, where she had a tube going into her hand feeding painkillers through. She had another tube, a tube down her throat with a ventilator attached, and a drip to feed her in her right arm. Behind her was a machine that kept track of Misty's heartbeat.

Ash was sat right next to her, holding her hand in his. Misty wasn't anything like the Misty he knew. She looked too pale to be alive, and her lips were tinged with blue. Her eyes didn't have that glimmer and her hand was cold. She looked like a zombie.

"Please Misty, be alright."

All of a sudden, the rhythmic steady beeping of the machine, which kept track of her heartbeat, began to beep much faster. Ash looked up, and noticed her heart rate had dangerously increased, and then suddenly the quick beeping became one beep. Ash couldn't believe what he had seen. She had flat lined (heart stopped).

"NO! MISTY!" Ash shouted as he pressed the emergency button. Dr. Barton rushed through the door.

"She's in cardiac arrest. Quick, bring the defibrillator here!" He shouted. They began shocking her back to life, but no use. After several attempts, they announced she was dead. It was too much to be taken in.

"I'm sorry Ash. There was nothing we could do for her. The poison count was too high, and it was too much for her body to take." Dr Barton announced to Ash

"NOT MISTY!!! NOOO!!!!" 

"Ash, are you alright?" 

Ash opened his eyes. He was sat up in the waiting room, with Jo looking at him worryingly

"I'm, I'm fine." He muttered. "I guess it was just a nightmare," He continued, wiping the beads of sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. He sighed and leaned back into the chair.

"You dropped off about 3 hours ago." Brock said to Ash. "Here, do you want a milkshake?"

"Alright then. How long do you think Misty's going to be in theatre?"

"I don't know" Jo replied.

"I reckon another hour. They'll have fun with Misty's hand. I mean, every bone's broken! She's gonna have to go through a lot to get that working again." Jo said

Ash sat slurping at his milkshake, still looking shaken about the nightmare he just had.

"Ash, are you sure you're alright?" Jo asked concerned.

"It's just, what if my dream meant something? What if Misty does die?"

"Well, what happened in your dream?"

"I don't wanna talk about it" Ash replied glumly

"Ash, talking about it will make it better. Trust me."

"I was sat with Misty, thinking about something, when she flat lined, and died right in front of me. It was so real!" Ash began to cry again.

"It's okay, it won't happen." Brock comforted, while Jo put an arm around Ash. He nudges it away

"But what if it does happen? You can't promise that my dream won't come true! Nobody can!" Ash began to thrash about.

"Ash come on calm down!" Brock shouted.

"Brock, I'll get a nurse." Jo said, leaving the room.

"Nobody can say she'll be alright! Nobody knows! Not even the doctors are sure!"

"Look Ash, people do come out of comas you know," Brock started

"But Misty could be different! She'll end up dying, just like my… DAD!!!" Ash shouted as Jo and Nurse Joy came into the room. There was an eerie silence in the room. 

"Ash, will you please calm down. You're not helping the situation at all." Joy said

"Tell me, do you really think Misty will survive?" Ash said

"I'm not sure, but I think so" Joy replied

"There! Even Joy isn't sure! That was the same answer when my dad died! 'Oh, we think he'll be alright' was the answer after Team Rocket had shot my dad, just for stopping them steal Pokémon!!! And guess what, he didn't survive!" Ash carried on while Joy left the room to get something.

"Joy's gone to get something to send him to sleep." Jo answered Brock's puzzled look

"How can you be… sure the same… won't happen… to Misty? Hey?" Ash sobbed when Joy returned with a needle. She went up to him, and stuck the needle in his arm. He hardly noticed, until he began to feel drowsy, and keeled over onto the floor asleep.

"I'm so sorry, Ash." Joy said. She turned to Jo and Brock.

"He'll be out for a few hours. I'll get a trolley to take him to a bed." She left the room.

"I never knew how Ash's dad died, and that's told us why he's acted so badly since he found out about this incident." Brock said.

"Yeah, but when he's okay, and we're sure Misty's alright, he'll be going for Team Rocket, and I'm going to back him all the way!" Jo continued

*~*~*~*~*

A few hours later, Jo and Brock went to see Ash, as he was awake to talk to him.

"Ash, are you alright?" Jo asked

"Mmm I'm fine," He answered "Why exactly did Joy give me an injection?"

"She said you were mentally and physically exhausted, and you were posing as a threat to us." Brock answered him

"Yeah, I guess I was…"

"Anyway, Joy told us that Misty's out of theatre, and she's doing okay…" Jo sighed 

"Really?? Can we see her yet?" Ash started asking

"I'm not sure. We'll go get her," Brock said as he left the room.

"Ash, I'm really sorry for the way I acted to you earlier on… I can be so stubborn!" Jo said

"Guess that makes two of us then. Misty says I'm too stubborn most of the time. She even says I'm too stubborn too die." He replied

"What?"

"I've been close to death three times since I started my journey… I was 'killed' in Lavender Tower when a chandelier fell on Pikachu and me; Before the Indigo league, Mewtwo and Mew turned me to stone, and I survived; and I've drowned on Lugia's back! And all those times I 'died', I've survived." Ash told Jo.

"How come you came to drown on Lugia's back Ash? It's not very often you come across Lugia anymore is it?"

"True. I was the 'Chosen One' at this traditional island ceremony on Shamuti Island in the Orange Islands. Come to think of it, Misty saved me in the Orange Islands, and when Entei threatened to kill me and Pikachu," He continued "Hey, where's Pikachu???"

"Oh. We took her to the Pokémon Center. It's strictly no Pokémon here." After Jo said this, Brock came in followed by Nurse Joy.

"Well, can we see Misty?" Ash asked enthusiastically

"Not quite yet. I'm going to give her a check-up, and then you may see her. But, only one person may see her at a time. She's in Intensive care at the minute." Joy replied

*~*~*~*~*

"So, who should go see Misty first?" Brock asked

"I think Jo should, coz she hasn't seen Misty in years." Ash said

"Ok, then Ash." Jo agreed

"No, I'll go last. Brock can go next." He corrected

"Fair enough." Brock replied. The trio waited in silence until Joy entered the room to say they can go see Misty. They followed Joy to the third floor, and when you passed every room, you could hear the machines monitoring people's heartbeats. Finally, they stopped outside a room. All the blinds were closed so you couldn't see into the room.

"I'll be back in a moment." Joy said as she entered the room. A few moments later she exited and said to the group: "She's okay to be seen to, but we've still got someone in with her to keep an eye out for tell tale poison signs, so don't get in the way." Joy warned

"Okay, thanks Joy." Ash thanked

"It's my job." Joy replied as she walked off.

"Okay, I won't be too long in there, Brock." Jo said, as she entered Misty's room.

As soon as she entered, she gasped when she saw the state Misty was in. She had tubes coming out of her in all directions, and her skin had a grey tinge to it.

"Oh my god!" Jo gasped, as she burst into tears, and ran out of the room.

"Jo, what's up?" Brock asked

"Misty… she looks… horrible!" Jo sobbed

"It's alright Jo. She'll get better, I'm sure she will." But Brock wasn't sure, because when he went into the room, he saw what Jo meant. When he passed Ash, he managed to say 

"Ash, brace yourself when you go in there. I'll be outside getting some fresh air if you want me. Jo'll be with me too."

"Er… okay." Ash said, as he entered Misty's room. What greeted him was worse than he expected. Ash ran over to Misty's bed, sat down, and cupped her hand in his.

"Good God! What have they done to you Misty?" He said. He felt Misty's hand. It was stone cold. In fact, looking over the lifeless body before him, there didn't look like there was any warmth anywhere in her body. Her face was grey, lips were blue, and in fact, she looked just like she did in Ash's dream. She had a ventilator attached, and other tubes hooked up all over.

Ash sat there for the next half hour, barely moving, just staring at the fragile body in front of him, with her hand in his. Nurse Joy came in again, and said

"I'm sorry Ash, visiting time's over."

"But please can I stay for a little longer?" Ash pleaded

"I'm not sure. I could get the sack, so I'll ask Dr. Barton. I'll come back with him, because he'll need to check her anyway." She said as she left the room. She came back a couple of minutes later with Dr Barton.

"So Ash, you would like us to extend the visiting period for you?" Dr Barton asked

"Yes please"

"Well, I'll give her a check up. Joy, what are the results from the last check?"

"Here," Joy passed Dr Barton a clipboard.

"Hmm, Misty's heartbeat was weak until 20 minutes ago, where it strengthened, and now it's weak again. This is interesting… Ash, will you just hold Misty's hand for a moment?" Dr Barton asked

"Sure," Ash said as he held her hand again

"Just as I thought! Misty's heart rate strengthens whenever Ash holds her hand, so she's improving!!! Ash, I give you permission to stay here as long as you want." Dr Barton said "It's good she's improving, because the sooner she wakes up, the sooner we can get the poison out of her system!" He added

"All right! Thanks." Ash replied as Dr Barton left the room.

"Joy, what did Dr Barton mean about 'the sooner she's awake, the sooner we can work the poison out of her system'?"

"Well, because Misty's in a coma and the antidote doesn't work until *all* the symptoms show, so we can't use it. The symptoms don't show until the patient's conscious."

"What are the symptoms?"

"Well it begins with tiredness, exhaustion and aching limbs in all cases, then with a poison sting I think it progresses to rapid temperature changes; minor illnesses due to the poison attacking the immune system; and the last symptom is close to the effect of a Vileplume's Stun Spore- lack of energy, bad fever, and temporary paralysis of limbs. Also, from the second symptom, you generally fell unwell and weak."

"How long does it last for?"

"6-14 days, but longer if untreated"

"I just don't want to see her suffer. At least I'll know what she'll feel like towards the end…" Ash said as Joy left the room.

Ash stayed with Misty for 3 days, having Brock and Jo come with food and drink for him. He hardly left Misty's bedside in those 3 days. Ash had just spent another day next to Misty. It was getting late, so Ash went up to the window to watch the sun set. The window faced the sea, and the water reflected the beautiful sunset (In Goldenrod, there is sea to the west of the cit in the games). Ash opened the window to let some of the fresh air in. He leant on the window ledge and looked out to the sea.

'How long is it going to take until Misty's back to herself?' Ash thought. He continued to look across the ocean, where on a fishing ledge there was a Pokémon battle taking place between a Croconaw and Tentacruel.

While he was watching this, he heard Joy come in and check Misty over. Afterwards, she came over to Ash and said,

"Hmm, you're looking forward to the Johto League, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm nervous too."

"It's okay, all trainers are nervous at some point. By the way, Misty's condition has improved dramatically in the past hour- we've removed the tube from her throat, because she doesn't need as much assistance with breathing anymore, and her heartbeat's much stronger."

"Does this mean she's recovering yet?"

"She's not out of the woods yet, Ash. We will begin considering improvement when she's breathing independently, and because her pulse's stronger, it means that the poison is circulating faster than it did, so the symptoms will show earlier. *Pager beeps* Oh- an emergency. Nice speaking to you Ash, I'll see you later." Joy called as she rushed out of the room. Ash continued looking out of the window, where the sky was beginning to show tinges of purple. A flock of Pidgeys flew past the window. As he watched them, he heard a slight rustle from behind him, but he ignored it. A short time after, another rustle came, followed by a low groan. Ash couldn't ignore this, and when he turned around, he gasped, and ran over to Misty's bedside.

"Misty, how do you feel? What happened?" Ash asked in a rush.

"Mmm." The only answer he got was a moan.

"Are you okay?" Ash still didn't receive an answer. Ash went to get Brock and Jo from outside when Misty summoned all her strength to say

"Don't leave me Ash!"

"It's alright. I'm just off to fetch Brock and Jo. Stay awake until we come back!" Ash called.

"Ohh," Misty moaned again

'Why the hell is he here while he should be training his Pokémon for the Johto League?' She thought. 

*~*~*~*~* 

Well, that's this chappy finished! I've started the next one, titled 'Misty's Recovery'. I am determined to post the next installment before I go on holiday to sunny Cornwall… at least, I hope it'll be sunny… ^_^;

Please review, and if you do, I *might* send you a preview of the next chapter! ^_^

Anywayz, see ya!

~*Misty's Double*~


	6. Chapter 5 Misty's Recovery Begins

Hi! Well, as you can see, this is finally here… I guess I didn't get it here before I went to Cornwall surfing… ¬_¬;. Then I started back at school to wonderful GCSEs, and I've been doing this in between the plentiful homework…

Anywayz, I'll get on with the story…

Misty's Journey By Misty's Double 

**Chapter 5- Misty's Recovery begins…**

*~*~*~*~*

Ash was running full pelt to the entrance to the hospital, into the grounds, and to the fountain where Brock and Jo were sat.

"Ash, what's the rush?" Jo asked

"She's… awake!" Ash panted

"Who? Misty?" Brock asked. Ash nodded

"Well, come on then! Let's go!" Brock added, as they returned to Misty's room.

*Back at Misty's room*

When they arrived, they were greeted by Nurse Joy just exiting the room.

"Why are you just coming out? Has something happened to Misty?" Ash panicked

"No, it's alright. Dr Barton's just checking her again, and removing the tube from her throat now she can breathe freely." Nurse Joy answered, just as Dr Barton exited the room.

"Okay, she's free to be seen now" He smiled at Ash and co.

*~*~*~*~*

"Misty, how are you?" Jo asked running to Misty's bedside

"Well, I'm in pain, and tired." Misty croaked 

"I'm not surprised Misty. Do you guys think we should leave Misty alone to have some peace and quiet for a while, and get some rest?" Brock chipped in

"No! Ash, please don't leave me!" Misty panicked

"Brock, can't we please stay for a while? What if Misty relapses or something? Who would be here?"

"Nurse Joy?"

"Nope, she's been called to an emergency"

"Dr. Barton?"

"In surgery"

"Oh, okay then. As long as we're quiet. Look, she's asleep already, this has really taken it out of her, hasn't it?" Brock commented, noticing that Misty had already fallen into a deep sleep. Ash sighed, and returned to the bedside seat, picked up her hand, and kept a vigilant eye on Misty.

"You know, I'm really worried about Misty," Ash started

"No, Ash. We thought you couldn't care less about her…" Jo said sarcastically

"Shut it Jo, or when Misty's awake, I'll ask her to prescribe a visit from her extra-large mallet to your head!" Ash threatened

"Ash, correct me if I'm wrong here, but you are absolutely petrified about her." Brock said

"Maybe," Ash turned back to keeping an eye on Misty "But one thing is for sure, I'm not going to be too sure about letting Misty leave like that again… anything could happen!"

"I'm sure Misty feels the same way about you Ash." Brock added

"Yeah, she sure sounded angry when we were lost out in that storm a few weeks back, didn't she?" Ash thought aloud.

"Yeah, but Ash, you've got to remember that you can't be in charge of what Misty gets up to her whole life you know. She's got to have *some* independence." Jo said to Ash

"But I can't help but worry. That's why we were phoning each other every night" Ash finished. Two hours later, Ash was the only one awake, as the other two had gone to sleep on the floor.

*Two mornings later*

The sun was just rising from behind Mt. Silver. The whole room was silent apart from Pikachu's soft snoring which was coming from the bottom of the bed. Ash had agreed to get some fresh air yesterday, and ended up picking up a very irate Pikachu from the Pokémon Center. As soon as Ash picked up Pikachu, he received a Thunderbolt for being abandoned at the Pokémon Center for so long, being scared out of her little head over Misty's condition.

Anyway, back to the morning. Ash was asleep in the bedside chair, resting his head right by Misty. Jo and Brock had their sleeping bags out, and were sleeping on the floor. Pikachu was sleeping soundly right by Misty's feet. Everyone was sleeping soundly apart from Misty, who had just awoken after a three-day sleep.

"Augh, Ash, I feel terrible, oh." Misty groaned, noticing Ash was still sleeping.

Misty attempted to sit up a bit, but failed because of her plaster-clad arm.

'How the hell will I be able to battle in the Johto League in this condition?' she thought to herself, staring at her pot, which was covering her left arm right up to her shoulder.

'One good thing though, I won't have to find my mallet for now,' she thought on a high note. She smiled weakly at this thought. A few minutes later, Pikachu started stirring at Misty's feet. Misty realizes Ash must have gone to pick her up while she was asleep.

"Pikachu, it's alright, you can go back to sleep. It's too early."

"Chu pika pika! Kachu pi chu Pikachu!" [Translation: No way Misty! It's about time these three woke up!] It replied energetically.

"Pikachu, I don't feel too good and I can't be bothered thinking about what you've just said." Misty replied, her temper beginning to grow thin. She really hated losing her temper with a Pokémon, especially Pikachu.

Pikachu frowned, then ignored Misty, walked up to Ash, and being careful not to shock Misty, went and Thundershocked Ash. After Ash was beginning to sit up, Pikachu hopped off the bed and shocked Jo and Brock too. Content with what it had accomplished, it jumped back onto Misty's bed, and sat down at her feet to begin washing itself.

"Ow Pikachu, you've got to stop being our alarm clock!" Ash moaned, still half asleep.

"Pika ka ka ka!" Pikachu thought this was hilarious, and was rolling around on the bed, until it rolled off that is.

"Shut it Pikachu. It isn't funny." Ash scowled.

"You know Ash, I think you should opt for buying a proper alarm clock soon…" Jo complained. Brock hadn't showed any signs of waking up, but you could of heard a faint comment about 'feeding the little rat to Meowth' the next time they saw them.

"Morning you two," Misty called in a fake cheer to cover the pain, directed at Ash and Jo.

"Hi Misty, how are ya feeling?" Jo asked as she came up to Misty's bed.

"I'm fine," Misty lied as she felt her face's temperature increase all of a sudden

'What the hell's happening to me?' Misty thought angrily as Ash eyed her suspiciously and worriedly.

"Misty, are you sure? You've turned very pale all of a sudden," Ash inquired.

"Mmm, I'm okay. Why, don't you believe me?" She sighed.

"Misty, it's just… it's just I'm worried about you. I nearly fainted when Dr Barton phoned up to say you had been brought into hospital." Ash explained. With the end of that sentence, Dr Barton walked in with Nurse Joy following him.

"Good morning Misty, Ash and Jo." Dr Barton greeted.

"Morning, doctor." Misty said.

"We're about to run some tests on Misty, and give her a check up, so would you two mind leaving the room please. We'll call you back in when we're finished." Joy said cheerfully to Ash.

"Okay Misty, I'm Dr Barton, your consultant. I'm in charge of you along with Joy." Dr Barton introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Misty said holding out her hand.

"Okay, Misty, I'm going to run a few tests on you. But first, do you remember what happened, and how you got here?" Dr Barton shook her hand. Misty thought for a second.

"We were walking towards Goldenrod City, so we could win our next badge. We had just about left Ilex Forest when Team Rocket surprised us…" Misty trailed off, and stared at the wall

"Okay carry on," Dr Barton encouraged

"Umm… Oh yeah. Jessie was teasing me, and I just burst out, and ran for her. I should of known it was one of their tricks… and then the ground gave way underneath me, and I remember feeling my arm crack underneath me, then I blacked out." Misty finished, and directing her gaze to Dr Barton.

"Okay, well do you know where you are now, like which hospital?"

"Haven't got a clue. Oh no, don't say you've brought me all the way back to Violet…"

"Nope, you're in Goldenrod."

"Alright! So, when can I go beat Whitney then?" Misty asked determined, but her expression changed when she saw Dr Barton look down at his board.

"Umm, Misty, do you have any idea of the extent of injury you've sustained, or what condition you were in when you were brought into the hospital nearly a week ago?"

"Well, I obviously have something wrong with my arm, but why is it so heavily bandaged?"

"Okay, well to put it simple, you smashed practically **every** bone in your hand; fractured your ulna and broken your radius above your wrist. Also, you've broke the bone just above the elbow, broken her thumb, and had a very bad knock to your shoulder, all on your left arm."

"Whoa, I guess that's what I felt just before I blacked out then."

"Wait Misty, there's more. When you were brought in, you were in a critical state. You crashed on us three times on the first night, and then when we were operating on your arm, you crashed twice. After that, you were in a coma for three days, and then you woke up three days ago. So you've been through a lot the past week, and you're still not out of the woods yet. Apparently, when you were unconscious, an Arbok's Poison Sting landed on you, so you are poisoned as well."

"So how long am I set to be in here then?"

"For between ten- sixteen days, depending how your body reacts with the symptoms of the poison. Shall I run through them with you?"

"I suppose you should." Misty said gloomily. She had already lost hope of getting to this year's Johto Championship.

"Well it begins with tiredness, exhaustion and aching limbs in all cases, then with a poison sting it progresses to rapid temperature fluctuation; minor illnesses due to the poison attacking the immune system; and the last symptom is close to the effect of a Vileplume's Stun Spore- lack of energy, bad fever, and temporary paralysis of limbs. Also, from the second symptom, you generally feel unwell and weak. This all lasts for six-fourteen days, then we'll be able to give you the course of antidotes."

"Oh my God, I don't believe this could happen just because I fell foul to Team Rocket's blundering efforts!" Misty exclaimed, then her emotions finally got the better of her, and she began crying.

"Okay Misty, calm down. Here have a tissue while I just fetch a needle, because we need to take a blood sample to see the poison intensity in your bloodstream." Dr Barton fetched a needle, and took a small amount of blood from Misty, then carrying out the other tests.

"Okay Misty, I'll see you in a couple of hours with your medication. Until then, your friends are allowed back in. But I'll tell them to keep quiet because you need lots of rest." 

"Thanks Dr Barton," She called as he exited the room.

*~*~*~*~*

In Ilex Forest…

Team Rocket are sat in a cabin. They haven't slept much the past couple of nights, because something's been niggling away in their minds.

"Do you think Red's okay? I mean, she looked in really bad condition when they took her away in the ambulance didn't she?" James asked his fellow teammates

"Yeah, I kinda feel guilty, especially with the fact Pikachu wasn't even there to nab" Jessie replied

"How were we supposed ta know that rat wasn't wid 'em? It was just plain accident." Meowth added

"I don't think Officer Jenny will believe that when we're caught." James said negatively

"You know, I'm kinda wanting to know if she's doing okay, you know, pop in." Jessie said.

"I agree wid ya Jess. It's just I don't think she'll be too pleased…" 

"Yeah, but I don't really care about that. Come on, are we going or not?" Jessie finished, as they all rose, and marched out of the cabin towards Goldenrod…

*~*~*~*~*

Well, I've finally got this finished, after let's see… 6 weeks after I said I would have this up… ¬_¬;

The next chapter's gonna be up soon, but I'm gonna give myself a more realistic deadline… say, when I break up for half term mid October? Until then, stay happy, and on your way out, please click this little button under this…

~*Misty's Double*~

Right here…


	7. Chapter 6a Happy Birthday To Misty!

***WAAAHHH!!!! I'M REALLY SORRY ABOUT THE LAST UPDATE… I UPLOADED AN OLD CHAPTER!!! ANYWAYZ, HERE'S THE PROPER CHAPPY!!! ENJOY!***

Hi! This is definitely up loads before the last chapter. I'll warn you now, this chapter's longer than usual again, because I got carried away again. *Sigh* I went a bit hyper when I started writing this up, and well, this is the outcome… *^_^* 

Disclaimer: Now this counts for last chapter too, who in their right mind thinks I own Pokémon??? In 2000, a group of kids started saying stuff about me being the 'chosen one' and 'Pokémon master', then singing 2 B A Master to me whenever I went past them, but that's it. In other words, I still don't own Pokémon!

Misty's Journey 

**By Misty's Double**

**Chapter 6- Happy Birthday to Misty… in hospital??? Part 1**

By the way, this is broken up into two parts again. Sorry.

"Misty, what did the doctor say to you just now?" Ash inquired. He had come back in after Dr Barton had finished with Misty's check up.

"Err… just about what happened to me in the fall." Misty answered gloomily

"Hey, come on Mist, are you okay? He's told you something else hasn't he?" 

"When you had gone, he told me about what I had broken, and that I'm poisoned," Misty said shakily

"And… there's something else isn't there? Come on Misty, I'm your best mate you can tell me it" Ash encouraged

"Yeah come on Misty," Jo added. Misty swallowed hard, and then spoke in a quiet shaky voice

"You may not think this is such a big deal, but Dr Barton told… he told me that when I was first brought in, I crashed 3 times over the first night." Misty said, finally looking up from the bed. Jo gasped.

"Err… Meaning?" Ash asked

"God, ARE YOU THICK??? I NEARLY DIED 3 TIMES JUST BECAUSE I WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO FALL FOR ONE OF JESSIE'S PLANS!!!" Misty finished, before breaking down into tears. Jo scowled at Ash.

"Okay, I think you've done enough damage! Wake up Brock, and go fetch some breakfast. Make yourself useful!" Jo ordered Ash.

"Misty, I'm so sorry…"

"Ash, just go!!!" Jo finished.

"Fine, Brock, come on. Breakfast."

"Wha- girls???" Brock said springing awake

"I give up…" Ash sighed before leaving the room

"Misty, are you alright? Is there anything else? Do you want me to do anything?"

"No… wait. I've been journeying with two trainers around Johto. Could you go call them, their number's in my Pokégear under Beth. Tell them to come see me in half an hour. Then, could you keep Ash from out of here for about an hour? Maybe take him to the beach? Oh, just try and cheer him up too please? He'll be really upset about just then…" Misty trailed off.

"I'll go do all them now. See you in a mo Mist. Pikachu's still with you for company." Jo replied, leaving Misty and Pikachu. 

"Oh my God Pikachu, I've just noticed you've got your arm in plaster too. What happened?"

"Pika pi chu Pika chu pi!" translation: Jo's Corsola used Ancientpower Pikachu explained

"Oh yeah, I remember now. Ash told me that it'd be out of plaster for the Johto league if you don't hurt it again,"

"Pika!" Pikachu replied excitedly.

*~*~*~*~*

5 minutes later, Jo returned from phoning Beth and Mark.

"Okay, they have been staying in a hotel the past few days, and are on their way now. What time do you want us three back?" Jo asked

"I don't know. Come back in about an hour. But first, will you wait with me until Beth and Mark turn up?"

"Well, let me fetch my breakfast. You want anything?"

"Hmm… I can't have too much; it'll just make me worse. If they have any, bring me a chocolate muffin please."

"Okay. Be back in a minute." And with that, Jo left for the canteen.

*~*~*~*~*

Jo returned again 10 minutes later, laden with breakfast.

"Here you go Misty. Ash was paying, and there was two different chocolate muffins, and he said you love ones with cream, so, here you go," Jo explained, handing Misty the cream muffin. "There's more though. He said you should eat more than that if you want to recover quicker, so he's bought you a bacon sandwich, and some hot chocolate." She finished, placing the rest of Misty's breakfast on the bedside table.

"You know, he's a real soft one. When you go, tell him thanks, but he's got to start caring for himself as well as me!" Misty laughed.

"Yeah. Anyway, how're you holding up at the minute?"

"Mmm, okay, I guess. I think the poison symptoms are starting to creep up on me though. I was feeling a bit off when I woke up, but I'm okay now."

"Well, tell me if you start to feel a bit off, okay? Now how about eating your muffin?"

"That's a point. God, that… tastes nice… your stomach… sure tells you when… you haven't… eaten for six days…" Misty said between mouthfuls of muffin.

"Well, if you eat at that rate, I think your stomach will sure tell you it's not interested. Besides, you've been fed through an IV the past six days haven't you?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't satisfy a grumbling stomach does it?" Misty finished, before starting on her hot chocolate, then scoffing her bacon sandwich. Just when she was finishing, Nurse Joy came to the door with Mark and Beth in tow.

"Misty, you've got two visitors, okay? I've told them they've got half an hour, and then you're having a nap while Ash and Brock are out. Wait, Misty, what's that you've just eaten?" Joy asked suspiciously

"A chocolate cream muffin; bacon sandwich and a hot chocolate. It was really nice!" Misty said cheerfully.

"Oh great." Joy answered, rubbing her forehead. "Misty, they were all too rich for your first meal after six days. I'll get something for you in a minute." Joy walked out of the room

"Okay, I'll see you later Misty." Jo said, walking out of the room, finishing her sausage sandwich.

"Misty, how have you been?" Beth asked, running to her.

"In a coma for three days; and asleep for another three days. This is my first day actually awake." Misty smiled.

"How you holding with the poison? We tried the best we could to shield you, but they just bounced off the pit wall." Mark said sadly.

"I'm holding fine. I felt a bit groggy this morning, but it's passed. The symptoms will be showing up soon, though" Misty answered.

"Hey, sorry to change the subject, but who's is the Pikachu? It's in really good condition." Beth piped up

"That's Ash's Pikachu. It was his first Pokémon. They've been together for 3 years, actually, nearly 4. Ash's birthdays in September." Misty reminded herself.

"Hmm… sounds like they're loyal…" Beth trailed off

"So Mark, what have you been doing while I've been banged up in here?" Misty asked trying to make conversation

"Well, we've taken your Pokémon to the Pokémon Center, Togepi and Pichu were in shock, and my Sandshrew got poisoned, so all of our Pokémon are there at the minute, being treated."

"Oh, thanks Mark!" Misty replied.

20 minutes passed without anybody saying a word, when Pikachu had finally had enough of Beth adoring her, and threatened to shock her.

"Erm, Beth, don't touch Pikachu now… Pikachu stop!!!" Misty ordered Pikachu

"Why?"

"She's powering up for thundershock, and you don't want to be shocked by her, she HURTS!!!" Misty finished.

"Oh. I wonder what it's like to be shocked…"

"I'll tell you now from first hand experience, it's not nice, neither is getting savaged by a Gyarados come to think of it." Misty sighed

"So then, when are you expecting to get back on the road?" Mark asked. Misty perked up at this

"Well, Dr Barton says that I'll be in here 10-16 more days, depending how the poison passes… then I'll really be up for leaving this place!" Misty said, getting excited

"Yeah, but we'll have to take it easy the first few days, we won't want to make you ill again!!" Beth joked.

"But come on, I'll be keeping you guys back." Misty said as Joy entered the room again.

"I'm sorry Misty, visiting time's over. You can come see her soon." Joy said 

"Well, I'll tell you what, to speed this up, you two go challenge Whitney when you feel ready, and then we can get on the road quicker!" Misty directed to Mark and Beth

"Okay, well, we'll see you whenever, okay?" Beth replied

"Okay, see you two later. Be careful!" Misty called.

"Well Misty, how do you feel after your pigging out session?"

"Fine at the moment," Misty answered.

"That's good. Oh, I nearly forgot! Is there anybody we can contact for you, to tell them what's happened?"

"Erm, yeah, but could you do it later, you know, coz of the time difference? They'll still be asleep, and they don't like being woken up…" Misty replied

"Well, okay. I'll ask in a couple of hours. But first miss, I said that you need to rest didn't I?"

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts Misty. If you want to make a full recovery, you need sleep. This is the perfect opportunity, because Ash Jo or Brock isn't here to distract you. I'm going to be back in a couple of minutes to replace the painkiller IV, okay? And if you're not asleep by then, then I'll have to give you something to get you to sleep." Joy said, as she turned for the door.

"How am I supposed to get to sleep when I'm wide awake?" Misty grumbled as she stared out of the window. It was a clear mild morning, with the sun beating down over the golden sands of Goldenrod's hardly noticed West coast, due to all the buildings. The sea was a beautiful turquoise shade, and in the distance were the Whirl Islands, looking like rocks just peeping out of the sea. You could also see the off coast fishing docks, just big enough to fit a couple of Fishers on. She kept on looking closer up to the bay, when her eyes met the sands again, and noticed three people walking along the glorious clean sands. They looked familiar, and as she looked closer, she realised they were Ash Jo and Brock…

*~*~*~*~*

Ash, Jo and Brock were walking along the sunny Goldenrod seafront.

"Wow, this beach is really quiet, *and* clean!" Jo complimented

"Yeah, you would expect the beach to be either filthy and quiet, or very busy, but it's neither. I guess it's because of the massive buildings covering it." Brock added

"Yeah." Ash replied, half listening

"Hey Ash, you alright? You look like you're thinking." Jo asked

"Whoa, Ash, be careful, you might make yourself ill over this!" Brock joked

"Not funny! I've been thinking about Misty, and what the real reason is to her going back to Cerulean. Why exactly is she in Goldenrod?" Ash explained

"Err, well, I think she returned to Cerulean to take over the Gym for a while…" Jo trailed off, lying to Ash. It was Brock's turn.

"Umm… " Brock started. He noticed Jo furiously nodding her head behind Ash, telling him to continue.

"Well, yeah. She went back to train her Pokémon, and take a little break from traveling. I think she was here on holiday with someone…" Brock finished

"Hmm… there's something that I haven't remembered about her… something important…" Ash pondered

"Well, give us a clue, then we might be able to lift some stress off your little brain!" Jo teased

"That's the thing… I don't know what it is…" Ash sighed, ignoring the snide remark. He looked towards the sea, and something caught his attention. A little way along the seafront was a young girl with her brother, just going out into the sea on a Dewgong's back.

"Oh! That's it!!!" Ash exclaimed

"Well, that does it. Ash has finally cracked up." Brock said

"No! I've just remembered what it is tomorrow… it's Misty's birthday!!!"

"What a great way to spend it… in hospital, just waiting for the poison to take it's toll," Jo mumbled

"Come on, we need to get her a present!" Ash finished, before running up the sand dune, and jumping over the fence into Goldenrod City Center, right around the back of the Goldenrod Galleria Shopping Mall. Jo and Brock shrugged their shoulders, and then followed Ash to the Mall.

"Right, why don't we say we'll meet back at the West entrance in an hour and a half?" Brock asked.

"Okay. I'll see you later then." Jo said

"Yeah. See you later." Ash finished, before walking into the Galleria.

*~*~*~*~*

An hour and a half later, we find Ash Jo and Brock making their way back to see Misty, laden with presents for her birthday tomorrow.

"So then, what you got her Jo?" Ash questioned

"Well, I went to the Trainer's store on the 4th floor, and bought her this new gizmo called the Waterdex." Jo replied

"Cool. Let's have a look," Ash asked

"No, wait until Misty says you can use it. They had a 'Dex for every element of Pokémon, although the Steel and Dragon types aren't much use yet… there aren't many of them are there?" Jo replied

"So they would have an Electricdex?"

"Yep, I saw it, and it was yellow."

"Do you think there would be a Girldex?" Brock asked, as his eyes met a pretty brunette making her way to the Galleria.

"I don't think so…" Jo said, grabbing hold of his ear

"No, not the ear…" Brock winced

"Then keep control of you hormones Brock, honestly!" Ash took his turn with teasing

"Anyway Ash, what have you got Misty?" Jo said swiftly changing the subject

"Well I've got her a new model of fishing rod- known as the Master Rod. Prof. Oak says it's the most effective rod yet, and it was only released last week. Also, I've got a special Lure Ball- it's a splice between the Ultra and Lure balls; it has the effectiveness of an Ultra Ball, and it has the effectiveness of catching water Pokémon too. This is not forgetting the Dewgong we caught a few weeks back by Tohjo Falls. I've bought a new Pokéball for it too… that one's a bit tatty now, so I've got a special coloured one." Ash explained

"Well, you've definitely got a soft spot for her!" Jo replied

"Nah, it's just that she only got a massive ice cream sundae last year off me, and because I feel really sorry for her with being in hospital in the way she is and all. Anyways, what did you get her Brocky?"

"I've got her a Guide to Breeding Water Pokémon, and some special vitamin-reinforced Water Pokémon food. I bet they're getting fed up with Pokémon Chow now…" Brock finished. They were near enough back at the Hospital after 5 more minutes. They made their way past the reception of A&E, and through to the main hospital. They stopped at a corridor with about 8 different corridors leading off to staircases and elevators.

"Hmm… now which way?" Ash asked

"Well, she's still in Intensive Care, so we need to go to the 6th floor, but which ward?" Brock asked also

"Well, she wasn't in a ward if you remember correctly… she was in a room to herself because of the fact they didn't want to put her in with mangled patients, and people waiting to die." Jo answered.

"So 6th floor it is!" Ash replied, making his way to the nearest stairwell. They decided to take a lift to 6th floor North.

"Ding! Welcome to 6th Floor North." The automated lift announcer spoke

"Right. We'll make our way back to the canteen, and try to find our way from there." Ash spoke, as they walked along the whitewashed corridors. Every ward they went past, you could see all of the bodies of people on the brink of death. Finally they made it to the canteen.

"Okay, which way now?" Brock asked

"Well, if I remember rightly, Misty's window was facing the coast, right? That's West, so her room must be West too." Jo replied. Everybody agreed, so they made their way to the West wing of the hospital. Sure enough, they finally found their way to Misty's room. Jo went up to the door, and looked through the window beside it.

"When we go in, be quiet. She's sound asleep." Jo told Brock and Ash. They quietly entered the room, closing the door behind them. They all put the presents in the bottom drawer of the bedside table, and sat quietly around the bed, waiting. Ash decided that seeing as they'd passed the canteen, he wanted some more food. 10 minutes later he returned with a chocolate éclair. He quietly made his way through the room door, to find Misty awake, and half sitting up in bed.

"Ash, it took you ten minutes just to fetch a chocolate éclair?" Jo asked

"It's a time known as lunchtime. Canteens tend to be busy around now…" Ash explained as if Jo were a six year old. "Oh, hi Misty, how ya feeling?" Ash continued

"Okay, I guess. Thanks for the muffin, sandwich and hot chocolate this morning… I know you didn't know, well, I didn't know until Joy told me, but I wasn't allowed to eat something like those. She said they were too rich for me…" Misty explained.

"Alright," Ash replied before finishing his éclair. Misty had been feeling okay until then, when she had the sudden urge to bring up all that lovely breakfast. 

"*Gulp* I need the toilet… fast!" Misty said while trying to resist the urge to vomit.

"Err… Misty, you *can't* go to the toilet with the IV in your arm…" Brock said

"Oh… too late… Ash, move…" Misty said quietly

"What- oh. Someone go fetch Joy… Alright Misty, just bring it up, there's no point in keeping it all in you…" Ash comforted Misty, rubbing her back. Misty had ended up regurgitating her breakfast all over Ash's trousers. Jo had run out of the room to fetch Joy, and was now returning.

"Oh… here Misty, try to be sick into that. I'll just pour you some water… here. Take some slow sips when you think you've finished. I'll just go fetch something to clean the mess up," Joy said, giving Misty the cup. She took t with a shaky hand.

"T-thanks…" She replied, taking a sip. Her face had gone white, and she was drenched with sweat. Ash took the cup from her.

"All finished?" Ash asked softly

"I think so… Holy crap, that sure came out of nowhere!" Misty laughed weakly. Joy then returned, with some cloths to clean up the sink, and a bin.

"Okay, are you done?" Joy asked Misty, wiping the sick off the bed cover.

"Yeah, thanks." Misty replied. Joy took the paper sick bucket thing (well, that's what I call them! ^_^) off her, and put it in the bin.

"Ash, do you want to change in the toilet, and we'll get them cleaned for you along with Misty's cover." Joy asked Ash, noticing the sick on his jeans. He nodded.

"Okay, I'll be back in just a moment Mist." Ash said to Misty as he walked into the bathroom to get changed. He returned quickly.

"Misty, I think you should get some rest after that bout." Joy politely ordered Misty

"Yeah, even though I feel fine…" Misty said, laying back down in bed, and drifting off to sleep. Joy returned about 5 minutes later to replace Misty's cover.

"Oh, I forgot to ask her just now. Do any of you know how I can get in touch with her parents? Then I need to give her another check up, like blood pressure… you know what I mean…" Joy asked 

"Well, not her parents, because they died some years ago, but we do know how to contact her sisters, and if it's any help to you, like you need an actual parent, phone my mum 'cause she's the closest parent she's got to her. If you want, I'll make the calls while you check up on her." Ash replied

"If you don't mind…" Joy answered. Ash nodded before finding the nearest videophone. He typed in Misty's home number.

"Oh, come on… don't say you've gone out…" Ash said impatiently. As soon as he said this, the phone picked up. He sighed.

"Hi! You have like- reached Cerulean Gym, the showcase of the Sensational Sisters! We're sorry we can't like- take your call at the moment. If this calls an emergency, then you can phone us at the Kanto League Gym Leader Summit in the Indigo Plateau. Thank you, and like- call by at the gym real soon!" Daisy's cheery voice and face could be heard/seen. Ash picked up the phone directory for the phone, looked up the Indigo Plateau's number, and typed it in. The phone rang, and was answered.

"Hello, this is the Kanto League Headquarters. This is Kate. How may I help you?" A young lady with blonde hair popped up on the screen.

"Umm… could you please forward me to Daisy, Lily, or Violet Waterflower?" Ash asked

"I'm sorry, they're in a Gym Leader meeting at the minute. Would you like to leave a note for them?" 

"No, it's kind of an emergency. It's about their little sister. I need to talk to them personally."

"Okay. I'll just need to put you on hold just a minute, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks." With that, the screen went blank. About a minute later, Kate came back on the screen.

"I'll forward you now…" The sound went silent, and then you could hear the dial tone. The phone was then picked up immediately. On the screen was Daisy's face. In the background you could see the Kanto Gym Leaders around a large table with the Elite Four sat at the end with Lance in the middle.

"Hi! You know, this like- needs to be really quick. We're busy right now- Oh it's you Ash! I haven't seen you in ages! What do you want?" She answered

"Umm… it's about Misty. Last week she was caught up in an ambush by Team Rocket."

"Oh my God! Why didn't you phone us sooner?"

"The phone lines have been down in Johto the past week…"

"Where are you phoning from?"

"Goldenrod District Hospital. I'm with Misty."

"Like- how is she?" Daisy was beginning to get upset.

"Well, when she was brought in last week, she was critical. She's been in a coma the past few days, although she's woken from it; she's broken a lot of bones in her left arm; and she's been poisoned by an Arbok."

"Oh God! Is she like- holding okay?"

"Well, she was sick about half an hour ago, but that was because she ate a chocolate muffin after not eating anything for six days…"

"We'd like- come up, but this summit is *****really* important. It's lasting for another like- 2 days. If she needs anybody with her, then we'll come up, but-"

"No, it's okay. I'm going to be with her."

"Oh Ash, you're a star! Oh, by the way, it's like- Misty's birthday tomorrow. Would you mind, like- getting her something to cheer her up?"

"I already have it sorted." 

"Okay! Thanks again Ash! We all like- send our love! See ya!" Daisy finished, before hanging up. Ash walked back to Misty's room.

*~*~*~*~*

I'll apologise now for the fact that this is again split into two. I was only half way through, and I checked the length, and I was gobsmacked to find it was over 4000 words already. So what I'm doing is split what I've done in a fairly relevant part (I hope). 

On a final note, you may pester me all you want about this, it's just that I didn't want to upload such a big file for yaz, and the fact it's taken me three weeks to do half of this, it'd be about a 10000 word chapter. Please read and review, don't forget, I do like feedback you know… ^_~

Now if you don't mind now, I'm off to bed. It's 12:00, and I should be in bed, coz I got really ill after a soccer match last week… I just couldn't breathe what so ever… bye!

~*Misty's Double*~


	8. Chapter 6b Happy Birthday To Misty!

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon. If I did, I would… be RICH!!! *^_^*

Wheee! Hello everyone!!! I've got chapter 6 done (obviously!), so here it is. Thanx everyone who's reviewed so far!

 Oh, because of when I uploaded the last chapter and the trouble I had with it, I think a lot of you missed it, so please go back to that chapter to read it please! Anyway, it's late; I'm cold and tired. Enjoy!

Misty's Journey by Misty's Double

Chapter 6- Happy Birthday to Misty… in hospital??? 

Part 2

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~****

The next day…

Ash, Brock and Jo had woken up early in the morning due to a thunderstorm at around 4:00. They were sat quietly by the window playing Pictionary. It was Pikachu's turn, and she had begun to draw the ever-famous ketchup bottle.

"Hmm… is it a flower of some sort?" Jo asked, tilting her head to one side to see if it changed when she moved. Her answer was a shake of Pikachu's head, before Pikachu carried on with her 'masterpiece', in other words, a scribbled mess.

"Well, I think it's something to do with food…" Ash guessed

"Pika!" Pikachu, replied, pointing at Ash

"Okay… then it might be… hmm. Sushi?"

"Don't be dumb Ash!" 

"You're the dumb one! Since when does that look like a flower?" Ash retorted

"You 2 chill. You'll wake up Misty… and then you'll be in for it! Besides, it's tomato ketchup, isn't it Pikachu?" Brock answered.

"Pika!!!" 

"Aww… no fair… I'll never have a go…" Ash whined as Brock took the pens off Pikachu.

"Well, Ash, if you even took an educated guess, then you probably would get it!"

"Oh shut up Misty, I don't want to start a fight with you… Hey! Since when have you been awake?" Ash realized as he swiveled around, and staring right back at him was Misty smiling.

"Since you lot started playing pictionary. I just kept quiet to see how you did…" Misty giggled. "And obviously, that wasn't too good. How could THAT look like sushi?" Misty finished, pointing at the paper stuck to the wall.

"Well, can you do any better?"  Ash retorted

"Oh don't start. I'm not in the mood for fighting today. Number 1 coz I won't be able to keep up with your snide remarks coz I'm feeling lousy, and number 2 coz I'm in as good a mood you can get in hospital, waiting to be tortured by poison…" Misty sighed.

"Oh, that just reminded me," Ash said, as if he'd remembered the most important thing ever. He walked over to Misty's bedside cabinet, crouched down, opened it and took out his presents for Misty. Misty frowned

"Happy Birthday Mist!" He cheered, passing his presents to her. Her face lit up.

"Oh, you remembered!!! Thank you!!!" Misty replied, reaching out to hug him.

"Okay… can you let go… of me? At least… loosen your grip… your pot hurts." Ash struggled to say. Misty pulled away from him, and he blushed. 

"Sorry!" Misty finished, also blushing.

"Well, aren't you gonna open them?" Ash said, eyeing the presents in Misty's lap. They had been wrapped in metallic sea blue wrapping paper. Jo shook her head.

"No way! She's gotta have ours too…" Jo argued as she made her way to the same cupboard. Brock followed. They both got their presents out for Misty.

"So, how are you feeling after yesterday's sicky spell?" Ash asked

"I don't feel sick anymore, but I think the poison symptoms are starting to show up, coz I just feel lousy. Let's just put it this way. If I were still traveling with you, I'd be holding you up an awful lot. I'm just glad I don't have to walk anywhere today…"

Jo cleared her throat.

"Happy birthday Misty!" Brock said

"The same from me!" Jo added

"Thanks you guys. I really thought you wouldn't remember…" Misty replied

"Now can she open them?" Ash said excitedly

"God he's like a six year old isn't he?" Misty replied, smirking at Ash. He pulled a face.

"Alright. Misty, just open them!" Ash ordered

"Okay, okay. I'm opening them. Just take a chill pill, Ash" Misty laughed. She looked at the pile of gifts on her bed, and she picked up another present. It was a ball shaped gift. 

"Let me guess, it's a Pokéball!" Misty laughed, as she opened it.

"Hey, no normal Pokéball at that, I'll tell you!" Ash retorted offended.

"Well, surprise surprise, it's from you!" Misty replied, as she opened the present. In her hand was a Pokéball. Instead of being red at the top, it was a turquoise colour, and there was a silver fishing hook near the top. Her face lit up.

"Actually, it's from my mum and Prof. Oak. That is a new Pokéball. Prof. Oak told me this was called a Marine Ball. This ball is 3 times as effective as the Lure Ball, and has an 80% success rate when capturing Water Pokémon. Of course when they're weakened, it'll be that rate. When it was being tested, it seemed to have a better result when catching Pokémon from salt water. So in other words, this ball's best for sea water Pokémon."

"That's amazing. Just think of the Pokémon I could catch with that… Octillerys, even Tentacruels! I'll have to thank your mum and Oak for that." 

"Uh huh. That's not all though," Ash added while passing her the last present from him. She looked at it, and then opened it. She looked at the ball in her hand. It was pearly white at the bottom, and metallic turquoise at the top.

"It's… beautiful." Misty stated. She held the ball in her hand, and looked at Ash with a look to say 'You haven't!' The ball was heavier than the Marine Ball, so she had a slight thought that he'd got her a Pokémon. Ash saw the look, and grinned goofily.

"Yep! I know what you're thinking. Use it in your next battle, that is, if you're working in the Gym of course,"

"Oh thank you so much! I'll use it when I get back…" Misty said as she lunged for him again. Of course, she was lying about the latter. 'I'll use it against Whitney more like, that is, when I get out of here…' Misty thought to herself.

"Yeah, okay, that's fine!" Ash choked again. "Erm, you should open Brock and Jo's presents now I think." Misty let go of him.

"Oh sorry!" Misty said to the other two. Brock handed over his present. He hadn't wrapped it, but Misty wasn't bothered. She noticed the cover of the book.

"Oh thanks Brock!!!" She said on sight of the cover. It read 'Becoming a Water Pokémon Breeder, by Jessica Mariner' "She's such a famous Water Type Breeder you know!"

"Of course I knew that. Here, I've got you something else too." Brock continued, passing Misty three tins of specialist water Pokémon food.

"With that stuff, I thought your Pokémon would be getting bored with Pokéchow now, so I got you some of this for your Pokémon. Each of those tins would feed a squad of six four times, so one tin would last say, two days."

"Thanks again Brock! Corsy would definitely enjoy this!!!" She said, hugging Brock. Jo was last to give Misty her present. She picked up the present. It was wrapped in some green paper, and was a thin box shape.

"Hmm…" Misty said while opening it. "Oh wow!!! It's a Waterdex!!! I'd heard about these on Mary's Radio Show a month back!" She continued when she saw the box. She opened the box, and in it was a clear blue Pokédex shaped object. Misty turned it on, and Ash naturally looked at it to see what it did.

"Oh cool!!! Let me have a go, please?" Ash begged

"If you must... I'll have to programme it later…" Misty finished, as she passed the Waterdex to Ash.

"Oh this is cool!!! I want one!" 

"Honestly Ash! Want doesn't get, but your birthday is coming up soon…" Misty teased.

"Yes! I want one then!"

"Oh boy…" Brock stated, rubbing his forehead.

Half an hour later, Nurse Joy came in to give Misty her morning check up, and replace her IV. 

"Hmm… you've got a high temperature Misty… that means the poison's finally setting in. I'll be out in the main ward tending to patients, and if you feel ill again, tell Ash, and he'll fetch me, okay? But the best thing to do right now is to get as much rest as possible." Joy told Misty. Misty nodded her head. Joy left the room, and Ash came back in, followed by Jo and Brock.

"Hey Mist! We just came back from the canteen, and a mail deliveryman was asking for you. He had LOADS of parcels in his hands…" Ash was saying to Misty, when one of the ward nurses came into the room, followed by the deliveryman.

"Um, Misty, these were sent to the hospital this morning through special delivery from the Indigo Plateau. Where do you want them?" The nurse asked Misty.

"Oh, I'll have them here," Misty replied, pointing to the bed. The deliveryman came and set them down on the bed.

"I've got more in the van, I'll be back in a minute." He replied, before leaving again.

"Wow, who could all these be from?" Misty asked as she picked up a parcel, and unwrapped it. She noticed a card, but opened the present first. Ash picked up the card, and opened it.

"Oh cool, lots of chocolate!!!" Ash said when he noticed Misty's present. He opened the envelope in his hand, and read the card out to Misty.

"'To Misty, hope you recover real soon, and happy birthday, from Lance?' Misty, you know Lance???" Ash exclaimed

"Well, duh, I *am* a gym leader…" Misty said while picking up another parcel.

"Hey, Ash. You can help unwrap them if you want. You two can too!" Misty called. 10 minutes later, all the parcels had been opened, and the envelopes were left. They took turns to read out the messages.

"Hmm… this one says 'We all hope you get well soon, from the Johto League organizers,'" Jo read

"Oh, this one's from my sisters. 'To our baby sister, get well soon, and happy birthday, from your three sisters P.S Thank Ashy-boy for telling us about you.' Oh, okay. That's how they found out…" Misty said.

"This one says 'To Misty, Happy birthday, and we hope you recover soon, the Elite Four'." Brock read. Misty ended up having a present or card from everybody involved in the Indigo, Orange and Johto Leagues. Ash was amazed at how she knew all the Gym Leaders and everything, and every time, she pointed out that she was a gym leader herself…

*~*~*~*~*

5 days passed, and Misty was still in hospital, obviously. Misty has been moved out of Intensive care to the top floor, which is the Poison Ward. Again, she was in a separate room. Her condition had obviously deteriorated, due to the poison symptoms passing through. For the past 2 days, she has had a very high fever, and has been unable to move her arms or legs. This sort of showed a glimmer of hope to some, but also some were getting more and more worried about her condition.

Ash had become slightly more hopeful, as soon the antidote will be used, and Misty will be back to her old self. But, Joy and Dr Barton were getting worried. The poison was at a higher concentration than first expected, and with the amount that was in Misty's blood, she could fall back into a coma state at any minute.

*~*~*~*~*

(A/N Each time we switch from TR to the hospital, then it's carrying on from where the others left off, so after this part of TR, the hospital part will be AFTER the TR part took place… confusing? It took me 10 minutes to try and explain it… -_-;)

Jessie, James and Meowth were entering the Goldenrod city limits. The afternoon sun was beginning to sink from the sky for the night. 

"Well then, we're back in Goldenrod, what we gonna do now we're here?" Meowth directed at his teammates.

"Hmm… well, Twerpette was rushed here, so why don't we go visit her?" Jessie asked

"After we've had something to eat, plus I want to stroll along the beach. Look at it!!!" James exclaimed, pointing at the coast.

"We'll walk along the beach to the nearest burger stall, then walk up to the hospital to visit Twerpette, okay?" Jessie said. James and Meowth nodded.

*~*~*~*~*

Back with Misty and co, Misty had felt exhausted earlier, and fell into an unsettled feverish slumber. She had been moaning in her sleep, but recently gone quiet. Ash had noticed this.

"Hmm… you guys, do you think Misty's alright? She's been quieter the past 10 minutes or so…"

Jo turned around from the game her Brock and Pikachu had been playing, namely Hangman, and replied.

"Yeah. She has hasn't she… a lot quieter…" 

"I hope that Dr Barton can use the antidote soon, she's getting really bad…" Ash worriedly added. Just then Nurse Joy came in through the door. She looked at Ash, and her smile dissolved

"Erm, Ash, we've got a problem. It's about the antidote…" With that, everybody looked up.

"In our antidote store, we usually have a high stock of antidotes for every poison type. However, we've searched the whole hospital, and there's no Arbok antidote…" Joy said, and then stared at the floor.

"But… but there are other hospitals with antidotes… right?" Ash started with tears in his eyes. 'This can't be happening… why Misty?' He thought to himself.

Joy sighed. "There seems to be a shortage of antidotes everywhere… the nearest Arbok antidote is in Lavender City Hospital… It won't get here in time…" Ash just couldn't believe this. "Ash, don't worry, Dr Barton's looking for some medication that'll help Misty until it arrives… But he hasn't found anything yet." Joy said apologetically. Ash sighed.

"Okay. Thanks a lot Joy…" Ash began, but was interrupted by Dr Barton at the door.

"Joy! I've found one!!! It's the last one left in Johto. Your cousin in the Pokémon Centre found it in her human medicine store…"

"Brilliant! Ash, do you mind just waking Misty to take this?" Joy asked happily

"Alright. Misty, come on, wake up. We've got your antidote…" Ash said to Misty. She woke up slowly.

"Misty, we've got your antidote. Just stay awake for a while for us, will you?" Joy said while sucking the antidote into a needle for the injection. She passed it to Dr Barton.

"Now this will hurt quite a bit, okay?" Dr Barton said, while finding the vein under her elbow. He cleaned it, and then injected the antidote into Misty. She bit her lip, trying to stop herself from crying. Dr Barton pulled the syringe out of Misty.

"Oww… when is this gonna take effect?" Misty asked groggily

"It should take about 15 minutes. We'll come back in 15 minutes to check, okay?" Joy answered, as Dr Barton put a plaster on the needle mark. Afterwards, him and Joy left the room. Misty sighed, and smiled weakly. 

"The quicker this works, the quicker I'm out of this place. Ash, do you realise that if I was still with you guys, then when I get out of here I'll be lagging behind loads… you'd probably lose your temper after half an hour…"

"Why?"

"Because I haven't walked since around 2 weeks ago… the only time I've left this bed are when I was transferred from ICU up here, then that was onto another bed, and I didn't have to move much…" Ash nodded in agreement, and at the same time, his stomach growled. Ash laughed.

"I guess you're hungry then, eh? Go and get yourself something, and while you're at it, fetch me and Jo something too." Brock ordered Ash.

"Alright," Ash left the room on a mission for food. (A/N sorry it sounds lame, it just made a change… ^_^;)

"Misty, when you do leave the hospital, you've gotta take it easy, right?" Brock warned Misty

"Yeah, yeah, I know…"

*~*~*~*~*

Jessie took her last mouthful of a hamburger.

"I should really stop eating fatty food like burgers, they'll murder my perfect figure…" She complained. Meowth and James face faulted.

"Nyahh, shaddup moaning!!! It's ages since we ate a burger!" Meowth replied, scratching Jessie's face.

"You great stupid furball!!!!!" Jessie screamed. 

"Should we be going to the hospital now?" James sighed.

"Yeah, along the seafront…" Meowth trailed off. The trio then began to walk towards the coast again, after filling their stomachs.

*~*~*~*~*

Back with Misty (again)…

Dr Barton was checking on Misty for any signs of improvement due to the antidote.

"Hmm… this is weird… Misty, can you lift your arms yet?" Misty tried.

"Hardly," She replied weakly

"That is what I was afraid of…" Dr Barton sighed. "Misty, your blood pressure's still high, your fever's returning again, and generally, it seems that your body hasn't reacted to the antidote…" Dr Barton frowned in frustration.

"So… what's going to happen?" Misty asked worriedly

"That's the thing. We're not sure. There's one thing I'd like to do though. I'm going to take a blood sample and have it tested to see the poison count…" Dr Barton explained as he took a syringe and took some blood.

"I'll be back in a minute with the results, okay? Jo, when Ash comes back, explain to him what's happened please?" Dr Barton left the room.

"Ash is gonna be pretty upset when he comes back…" Brock started

"Yeah, but spare a thought for Misty as well…" Jo retorted. Misty wasn't listening. She was just staring out of the window, seeing a larger seascape from the top floor.

"Sorry Misty…" Brock apologized. Misty didn't reply. "Misty? Hello, Misty?" Brock went up to her and waved his hand in front of her face. She jumped.

"Huh? Oh sorry Brock. What did you say?" Misty asked oblivious to the conversation.

"I said I was sorry."

"About what?" At that moment, Ash came into the room, and a couple of seconds later, Dr Barton came in also.

"Doesn't matter…" Brock finished, noticing Dr Barton and Ash.

"Oh good, you're back Ash. We came to check Misty earlier, and well… we found out that Misty hasn't reacted to the antidote what so ever…" Dr Barton began. Ash was giving Brock and Jo their food he'd got them from the canteen. At this, he swiveled round.

"What?? Why?" He burst out.

"That's what we're trying to find out now. I took some blood and tested for the blood count, and well, it's higher than we expected. That antidote was for slight strains of poison stings, but this was more serious. Misty, when the Poison sting hit you, it seems that you were exposed more than we knew. So, in other words, you have a lot more poison in your circulation than we thought at first, more than we know what to do with, I'm afraid." Dr Barton explained.

"So what's Misty supposed to do now? Wait until the poison kills her?" Ash said loudly

"Well, we have two options, not counting what you said. One is that we make a stronger antidote, but no one here owns an Arbok, do they?" Everybody shook his or her heads, except Misty, whose expression was glazed over.

"Okay, that's out of the question. The only other option is to give a blood transfusion, but we haven't got the right blood group available, and we would have to live with the threat of the body rejecting it…" Dr Barton concluded.

"Oh great. This just gets better and better…" Ash said sarcastically, walking up to the window.

"You alright Mist?" He asked as he made his way to the window.

"Mmm… Just a bit tired."

"Oh, that's a thing. Misty, whatever you do, don't go to sleep until we find something to help you, okay? Because if you do fall asleep, you've got a chance you won't wake again…" Dr Barton said. He then let the room in search of some help. Ash just looked out of the window onto the beach.

*~*~*~*~* 

Jessie, James and Meowth were making their way along the seafront. 

"Ahh, isn't it beautiful? Watching the sunset over Whirl Islands and being reflected in the sea? It's so calm…" Jessie sighed

"Aww, come on Jess, let's get this visit over with. The quicker we get it over with, the quicker we can tend to our wounds from her…" James whined

"Plus Twerp's probably there now…" Meowth added

"Grrr… okay! We'll go then. Satisfied?" Jessie moaned. 5 minutes later, the trio had made their way up half of the seafront, and near the hospital.

"Okay, we can see the hospital… so how do we get there, Einstein?" Jessie targeted James

"Err… Why don't we… follow the beach to the hospital, then get to the hospital from there…" James stammered. They agreed, and made their way further along the coast to the hospital. They were stood right outside it, but couldn't find a way in.

"Great. Where's the entrance?" James said angrily

"Up there, Jimmy Boy. You've just gotta find us a way up the cliff…" Meowth answered fairly calmly.

*~*~*~*~*

Misty was laid down, still trying to stay awake in the bed. Ash was next to her, keeping her awake by talking to her.

"So then. What did you do when you left us?" Ash asked, keeping the conversation.

"I- Ash, could you… open the window please? I'm getting too hot." She replied. Ash nodded, and turned around to the window.

"So, what did you do?"

"I went back to Cerulean, then trained for a week…" Misty stifled a yawn. Ash caught the sight of somebody outside the hospital on the beach. 'No… it's not them is it?' Ash thought. When he noticed a Meowth, he leaped up.

"Misty, I'll be back in a minute… I've seen Team Rocket…" With that, Ash was gone out of the door. Misty just stared at the door he had just rushed out of.

"Team Rocket…" She said to herself. For the first time since she had woken, she realised that she couldn't actually remember what happened. She could remember the fact that Team Rocket attacked her, but she didn't know how or why they had attacked her. But that shouldn't worry her now. Ash had just left her…

*~*~*~*~* 

Ash just ran all the way through the poison ward to the lift, and was on his way to the ground floor. 'Those three are so dead… I can't believe why they attacked Misty. When I get my hands on them…' He thought to himself, but was distracted by the lift stopping. It had reached the ground floor. As soon as the doors opened, he had rushed out of them, past the reception, and out of the door. As soon as he was outside, he looked around for the quickest way to the beach. He noticed the cliff just a little way from him, so he ran flat out to it.

"Hmm, where are those idiots?" Ash said to himself, scanning the beach. He noticed them, so he jumped over the fence, and began to make his way down the cliff. It was quite easy until half way down, when he had to begin reaching down further. Towards the bottom, he speeded up the descent. However, he lost his footing, and fell the rest of the way. He landed on his side, with pain shooting along his arm. Ignoring it, he stood up and made his way towards Team Rocket.

*~*~*~*~*

5 minutes had passed since Ash had run out of the hospital, and Misty was becoming increasingly tired, and her fever was also increasing again. 'Why can't I just go to sleep?' Misty thought as her eyes went heavy again.

"Misty, come on, stay awake, please?" Jo asked desperately, knowing what would probably be the outcome if she did fall asleep.

"I… can't stay awake… for much longer, I can't give up though," Misty struggled to say. She was trying her hardest to stay awake, but she just wanted to give up, and go to sleep. 'How could sleep be painful? Just 5 minutes won't hurt…' she thought again. She was beginning to fall asleep, when she realised what she was doing, but couldn't fight back to get her eyes open again…

"Misty? Misty, come on, wake up…" Brock panicked, shaking Misty.

"I'll go get Dr Barton…" Jo said, leaving the room quickly.

*~*~*~*~*

"Hey! Team Rocket!" Ash shouted, running towards Team Rocket.

"Argh, the twerp! Come on, run!!!" James shouted at the sight of Ash.

"Oh no you don't… you're not getting away from me…" Ash said through gritted teeth, now sprinting at Team Rocket. He caught up with them. He stared at them with pure hate. James gulped.

"We're in for it now…"

"Damn right you are! I want to know why you attacked Misty, and she'll probably want answers too. How low can you three go (---- lookie, it rhymed… ^^), huh? Attacking a person, wait, my soul mate (That rhymed again… how am I doing it?)? What the hell were you three thinking? Right now she's waiting in hospital for either a blood transfusion or death… and I don't think she'd like to be killed by the likes of Team Rocket…" Ash bombarded Team Rocket with questions. Jessie tried to keep her cool.

"Whoa, calm down Twerp," She said to him starting to lose her temper.

"WHY SHOULD I CALM DOWN??" Ash shouted his loudest. Jessie slapped him.

"So we can actually say something to you!" Jessie growled.

"Come on then, say what you're going to say," Ash said impatiently. James sighed.

"Well, when we attacked Twerpette, we thought… we thought she was with you. As usual, we tried to steal Pikachu, but when we found that you weren't with her, and it was too late to pull out of the plan…" James explained

"Why?"

"Because she would have fallen down the pit anyway." Jessie finished

"So how did she get poisoned?"

"Well, there were two other twerps around, we don't know whether they were with her or not, but they began attacking us. One of the twerps' Pokémon dodged Arbok's Poison Sting, and it bounced off the pit wall onto her…" Jessie sounded guilty, but Ash couldn't make out whether it was genuine guilt or not.

"Before you ask anything else Twerp, yes we do feel for Twerpette. Actually, we were deciding on whether to go visit her or not…" James also said.

"Hmm, I'll go along with you for now. But I need to ask you for a favour," Ash began

"What does it involve?" Meowth piped up.

"Well, as I said, Misty is practically waiting to die. She's got such a high poison count in her blood that the Antidote wasn't strong enough. There's no more left, and as I said before, she could have a blood transfusion. However, we're still waiting to see if there's any blood suitable for her, it's taking too long. She really needs a double strength antidote to get rid of the poison in her blood… That's where you three come in…"

"Let me guess, you want us to help make an antidote for her using Arbok? Sorry, no deal." Jessie said.

"Please, besides, if she dies, I could tell Officer Jenny who murdered her…"

"Oh, come on Jessie, it won't kill us to help for once… we didn't mean to nearly kill her, did we?" James whispered to Jessie.

"Besides, YOU were the ones who put her in this state. Don't you think it'd make things better? At least you're helping…" Ash said, his temper beginning to rise again.

"Oh, alright! Are you happy now? We'll help her now, okay?" Jessie practically screamed. Ash looked as if he was going to cry.

*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile, things weren't getting any better with Misty…

"Right, how long has she been asleep?" Dr Barton asked.

"About 20 minutes… We couldn't find you or Joy." Jo answered. 

"Have you tried waking her?"

"Yeah, as soon as she fell asleep." Jo replied. Dr Barton checked her pulse.

"Oh God, no… her pulse is decreasing again, and her breathing's becoming laboured again. Jo, could you go fetch any nurse you can find, and tell them to bring a heart monitor in? Oh, and ask them to page Nurse Joy, okay?"

"Yep." And with that, Jo had gone off for a nurse.

"So… what does this mean?" Brock piped up.

"Well, I'm not sure, but the signs are pointing towards the fact she may well be falling back into a coma state." Dr Barton answered solemnly. A couple of minutes later, Jo returned, with Nurse Joy following soon after.

"What's the matter? Jo said to bring a heart monitor…" Joy asked worriedly.

"Yeah, well, where is it?" Dr Barton replied.

"It's on the way. One of the nurses is bringing it down." Joy replied.

"Thanks. Okay, Misty fell asleep about 30 minutes ago now, I've come to check on her, and her pulse has slowed, and breathing's becoming weak again. I think that her body's slowing down to enter a coma again. You have better knowledge of comas, so could you help?" The heart monitor arrived so they hooked Misty up to it.

"Okay." Joy checked Misty over again. "Hmm… at the moment she isn't quite in a coma, it's what you could call the twilight zone (don't ask where that came from…), meaning she appears to be going into or coming out of a coma, and is perfectly aware of what's happening, just that she can't bring herself to wake up or anything."

"Is that bad?" Jo asked

"Not too serious, but we're going to have to try and wake her up though. Otherwise she could fall back into a coma anytime…" Joy replied

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Done and dusted!!! ^_^

I hope you enjoyed it, and please on your way out review? I'd gladly appreciate it!

Laterz,

Misty's Double xxx


	9. Chapter 7 Back on the road Finally!

Right, I'm sorry for the wait, but I've been sorting out exams, had many football matches, and umm, what else has happened… oh, and 2 power cuts… so they can be blamed for the lack of a chapter. But I'm not at school for a fortnight now… I've got a Christmas fic in the works, and I'm trying hard to finish it, but whether it will be up before Christmas is another question. Just something to look out for, okay? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, and please review afterwards. I'll take it as a Christmas present!!! ^_~

Disclaimer: Santa: Now then little (*cough*) girl, what would you like for Christmas?

Me: (Sweet little kiddy voice) I'd weally weally WEAALLLY like to own evwything Pokémon…

Santa: Well, tough luck!!! Mwahahahaha!!!!!

Well, that sums it up I guess. I don't own Pokémon, never will, and even Santa can't give it to us… .

*~*~*~*~*

Misty's Journey

**By Misty's Double**

**Part 7: Back On The Road! (Finally!!!)**

**~*And from me, please DO enjoy this! I know it has been a long time coming (I'm nearly as bad as you Pikasass! ^^; ), and I hope it's worth the wait for you!!!*~**

When we left off last time, Ash had just asked Team Rocket to help Misty by agreeing to help make an Antidote using Jessie's Arbok. After some persuasion, they agreed. Misty had fallen in between consciousness and a coma again, and Ash is currently oblivious to this... Anyway, here comes the chapter after the refresher…

*~*~*~*~*

Ash burst through Misty's door, with Team Rocket a little behind.

"God, I didn't think he'd be able to run that fast…" Jessie panted.

"Ash? Where have you been?" Jo scowled

"Finding these three…" Ash panted as Team Rocket arrived at the door.

"So, it was you three hey? I could have guessed. How low can you three go? Look at the state Misty's in! I can't believe you actually did this…" Brock shouted.

"Chill Squinty, we've already had dis… We can still go back on our deal if you're gonna treat us like dat…" Meowth trailed off

"So? How can you two call yourselves humans doing something like that?"

"Brock, leave it. You ARE NOT going to turn your back now, I'll make sure of it…" Ash shouted. Pikachu, whom had been sleeping at the bottom of Misty's bed, woke up suddenly due to the commotion. She noticed Jessie and James. She ran up to Ash's feet, poising herself for an attack.

"Pikaaa…" Pikachu warned

"Oh sure Twerp. We'd love to watch you, and call off your Pikachu's attack if you don't want to injure Twerpette even further…" Jessie sneered. Ash growled as the trio made their way towards the door, and he leaped at the door, spreading himself across the frame.

"Pikachu, back off. I'll repeat what I said: I'M GONNA MAKE SURE THAT YOU DON'T TURN YOUR BACK OUT OF THE DEAL!!!" Ash shouted, going red in the face.

"Ash, quieten down!" Brock said.

*~*~*~*~*

MISTY'S POV

It's not fair! I wanted some sleep, but I knew I couldn't, but I just couldn't fight my eyes… they just drifted off themselves… but it's weird. I was expecting everything to just go black, and go silent, but I could hear everything around me…just not do anything about it… I heard Jo and Brock worry; I heard Dr Barton and Joy work on me, I FELT them working on me; I just couldn't respond to them. I tried opening my eyes, I tried everything, and I just can't get the strength… Then, I hear Ash… and other voices… I couldn't quite place until I heard Meowth… it HAS to be Team Rocket… what are they doing here… but I heard Ash… talking, and then he began to get angry… with Brock for some strange reason… but Ash is back… I've got to at least try to wake, not just give up…

*~*~*~*~*

Ash breathed deeply, trying to contain his anger against Team Rocket's ignorance and selfishness. Pikachu had obeyed Ash's command, so walked back over to Misty's bed, and sat on there, keeping watch on Team Rocket. Dr Barton had heard all the commotion, and had come to the door behind Ash.

"I'm telling you, you just can't turn back now… if you do, the police will be involved. So, what you gonna do? You've got a choice. Help us or go to jail?"  Ash said angrily

"We'll err… go wid ya Twerp… for now" Meowth replied 

"Excuse me Ash, but are these people relatives of Misty?" Dr Barton asked, making Ash jump. Ash turned around.

"Huh? Oh, no. They're here because they've got an Arbok who we can use the poison from it to produce an antidote." Ash replied, deciding to leave out the part about attacking Misty

"Oh, is that so? Well, you can come this way to the labs while Joy stays with Misty." Dr Barton replied, and smiling at Team Rocket.

"Oh, err… we've got to be going now-" James started, only to be interrupted by Ash.

"*Ahem* you said you were going to help…" Ash warned.

"Oh, okay!" Jessie sighed in exasperation. Team Rocket followed Dr Barton out of the ward. Ash smiled watching them leave before talking to Brock.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, it was just they had promised to cooperate, and they were going to turn their backs…"

"No, it's okay man. I shouldn't have got involved." Brock replied

"So then Ash, Misty'll love you for getting them to help… if she wakes up…" Jo sighed

"What? What's happened? I've missed something haven't I?" Ash asked, panic becoming evident in his voice again, and he turned to look at Misty's sleeping form.

"Well, she had been complaining about being tired, you knew that, right?" Jo started. Ash nodded.

"Carry on…" Ash said.

"Well, when you left, she fell asleep, and well… Joy's said that Misty's in between a coma and consciousness… so she could go either way…That's why she's hooked up to the heart monitor, so they know if she's gone into a coma again…"Jo informed Ash.

"Okay, thanks Jo," He sighed as he sat down next to Misty again. He stared at her and sighed, holding her hand again. It was ice cold. 'She really doesn't deserve to be here… and I still want to know why TR attacked her…'

"Ash, do you want me to check on your Pokémon? I'm off to the Pokémon Centre to check on Misty's and my Pokémon; I might even bring Misty's Togepi back up. It'll be lonely and upset there…I need to get some fresh air anyway." Brock asked

"Yeah please. Oh, and tell Misty's that they'll be with their owner soon. Could you go towards the vending machine with me? I need another drink…" Ash replied. Brock nodded, so Ash got up. He flinched when he put his arm down to push himself up.

"Ash, what's wrong?"

"I'm alright, my arm just hurt a little. Now come on, let's go." Ash replied, dismissing his swollen arm.

"No, I reckon you should get that checked on. It doesn't look good. What happened?" Brock asked.

"When I went after Team Rocket, I had to climb down the cliff, and at the bottom I fell. It's nothing serious, honest!" Ash tried to reassure Brock.

"Whatever, just don't forget about looking after yourself, okay?" Brock finished, walking out the room with Ash.

Ash returned a couple of minutes later with a drink. He sat next to Misty and looked at her again.

"Jo, do you know where Ritchie is at the moment?" Ash asked suddenly.

"Well, last thing I heard he was doing was heading back to Kanto to Cerulean I think. Why?"

"I was just wondering. We saw him in the Whirl Islands about 4 months ago when there was some commotion over Lugia…"

"Yeah, he said to me last time we spoke that he had collected all the Johto badges, but he didn't think he was ready for the Johto League yet, so he's going back home. Next time I phone him, I'll let you two talk,"

"Do you two actually get on with each other?"

"Most of the time, unless we start fighting about our Pokémon… He usually starts it, and his Sparky usually ends it for both of us… But we don't get on at all with our sister Samantha… she's older than us, and thinks she rules us, and our Pokémon! I guess that's one reason why Ritchie and me left on journeys to get away from her… She doesn't train Pokémon, to put it short; she's a best friend with Misty's sisters. As ditzy as you can get…" Jo laughed.

"Oh, coz I don't have any siblings, but when me and Misty were travelling, we fought like siblings, and it usually ended with Pikachu shocking us, or Misty whacking me one with her mallet. It feels like we're brother and sister though, how we fight, and the fact we're so close. Us two haven't been separated for longer than a day until she left us…" Ash explained. After a couple of minute's silence, Ash decided to put on the TV (They had it in the room for Misty when they brought her up from ICU), and after some channel hopping, he settled with a documentary about the various species of Pokémon on Mt. Silver. They sat contently watching it for about half an hour, but Ash had fallen asleep 10 minutes before. When Brock returned, laden with three Pokéballs, Jo turned the TV off seeing as she hadn't taken any interest in it.

"Hi Jo! How's Misty?"

"The same. Keep it down a little, look at Ash," Jo replied, nodding towards Ash.

"It's good that he's finally got some sleep. He's been worried sick because of Misty, and he's beginning to suffer too."

"Yeah… I can see what you mean about him now."

"Yup. Anyway I've brought back Misty's Togepi, and a couple others."

"Togepi? Apparently the first species was found after a cave collapse in Grandpa Canyon a few years ago…"

"Yeah, that was us… Ash found it accidentally, and Misty 'won' Togepi when it hatched… Ash won it really, but it didn't seem too fond of him."

"What other Pokémon have you brought of Misty's?"

"Well, Joy said I should take Misty's Pichu with me… it had been missing her…"

"A Pichu? That's not like Misty, an Electric type… but I guess it falls under the 'cute' category with her…" Jo finished.

45 minutes later…

Jo and Brock had been quietly tending to Togepi and Pikachu respectively for the past 30 minutes. They had decided they shouldn't let Pichu out in case Ash wakes up and noticed it. Jo had been playing peek-a-boo with Togepi, while Brock groomed Pikachu. Ash was still asleep, and Nurse Joy had been to check Misty again, saying that she had stayed the same. Togepi had recently got bored of playing with Jo, so Pikachu played with it quietly, playing chase.

"God, I hope Misty gets better soon…she'll be very upset if she misses the Johto League…" Jo said quietly. After that, Ash sat up slowly and yawned.

"That's the last time I sleep in that position… What you say about the Johto League?" Ash said half- asleep.

"Err… I said that I hope Misty gets better soon; you'll be upset if you miss the Johto League…" Jo hesitated.

"Yeah, but that's not for another… 2 ½ months. She'll be out of hospital by then…"  Ash said optimistically after counting the weeks on his fingers. A couple of minutes later, Dr Barton and Team Rocket came bursting through the door.

"The antidote's ready!" Dr Barton announced to the trio.

"Right, great, we've helped ya Twerp, can we go yet?" Meowth moaned

"Yeah, I don't want to be around when she wakes up… she had a bad enough temper when we-" Jessie added

"Yeah yeah, you're free to go. Thanks you three, I guess you *are* human after all…" Ash thanked. Team Rocket gladly took their leave, and left the hospital.

"Well, all we've got to do now is wait for Misty to wake up again… Call me when she wakes okay? According to Nurse Joy, she can't be like this for too long, she said it's like a deep sleep." Dr Barton said as he left the room.

"Thank God for that… they actually helped us…" Brock said

"I'm really surprised they actually helped you know…" Ash trailed off.

"Who exactly are they?" Jo asked, oblivious to whom Jessie and James were.

"Team Rocket? They are two people in Team Rocket-"

"Don't state the obvious Ash!" Brock butted in

"Okay. They do what Team Rocket do… steal Pokémon, only these don't have any luck… they've been following us three since I was in Viridian Pokémon Centre arguing with Misty… they're always after Pikachu, but they never catch her…luckily. They've been after us for…nearly 4 years!" Ash finished, after counting the years on his fingers.

"But that doesn't explain why they attacked Misty…"

"Well, maybe they thought that Pikachu and I were with her, I mean you can definitely see Misty from a way off, with the red hair…not in a bad way, mind." Ash stared out of the window at the now dark horizon, and the only light coming from the still buzzing city centre below.

"What you want on the TV? I'll stick it on if you want," Jo asked no one in particular.

"Hmm… The Pokémon League's finished by now… oh just stick the news on… see what's happening" Ash replied. Jo turned on the TV, and changed the channel.

"It's not like you to watch the news Ash…" Brock said surprised

"Yeah, well sue me. Anyway, there is a first time for everything…" Ash frowned. He looked up at the screen, and the sports section was just finishing.

"And now onto the weather for the next 24 hours." The camera went from the sports studio to the main news studio, over to the weather.

"Thank you Dave. As you can see, to the far west over Cianwood and the Whirl Islands there is a band of rain approaching. Now if we look at the radar picture, the worst of the rain is in the southwest, so Azalea and Goldenrod could expect a heavy downpour tomorrow afternoon. Meanwhile, it looks like yet more snow for the northern cities, the worst looks like it will fall on Mt. Mortar…"

"You really wouldn't expect snow at this time of year. Its June, not November!!!" Ash moaned

"It just shows the variations in Johto I guess" Jo replied. Ash nodded

"The temperature charts now, and the highest looks to be in Cherrygrove around the 17 mark (A/N Look, I'm English, so sue me, we do the temperature in degrees Celsius, not Fahrenheit… I just thought I'd explain that to ya…), while the lowest is set to be Mahogany Town that has a mere 3 degrees tomorrow due to the snow, which will be heavy. Now back to the news desk."

"The main headlines tonight. Team Rocket has warned about another attack on Mahogany Town unless certain deals are agreed between the executives and Johto government. The government has reported there will be a mass smallpox inoculation as a 'precaution' after a weapons dossier was released claiming that biological weapons are in Team Rocket's reach. And finishing on a higher note, Chuck has reported that his gym will reopen next week after being flooded out by a storm surge 3 weeks back. Also, Lance- the Elite Four's leader has issued a challenge to any able trainer to compete in the upcoming Johto League held at the Indigo Plateau on the Kanto/ Johto border. Anyone seeking more information should watch the challenge later tonight at 9:30 Central Johto Time. That's all from me tonight, but I will be on the breakfast news beginning tomorrow morning starting 6:00 AM. That's all from the news team on Johto TV, and we wish you a good evening."

"Okay, I've bagged the TV at 9:30 tonight. Anyone wants to complain, we'll have a battle over it!" Ash said getting fired up.

"He he heh… Okay Ash, it's all yours…" Jo replied nervously

"He gets excited around 2 months before a tournament. You think he's bad now? Wait until the opening ceremony. But the nerves get the better of him the first day." Brock explained, remembering the Indigo League.

"Brock?" Ash asked innocently

"Hmm?"

"Shut it!!!" Ash sighed before mumbling 

"You'd get excited if you were about to fight the best trainers in the country… besides I never get nervous before a game…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing…" Ash sighed, before turning to Misty again, and held her hand. 'Misty, the sooner you wake up, the sooner you will recover' Ash thought, before something struck him about her.

"Brock, Misty's hands were cold earlier…" Ash thought aloud

"I wouldn't know, I haven't held them, but Joy said about her getting cold earlier because her body's slowing down. Why?"

"Well her hand's pretty warm… you would expect it to be cold."

"That must mean she must be coming round again…" Jo said hopefully. Ash smiled.

"Misty, you hear that? You're coming back to us again! Just come on, please show us that you are…" Ash said to Misty, while staring at her hand, pretty sure he had felt her hand twitch.

"Brock, do you think…" Jo trailed off

"She may well be. Remember what Joy and Dr. Barton said?"

"Look Misty, the antidote's ready, as soon as you wake we can stop you suffering. So you've got a choice. Keep fighting the fever and come back to us, or just quit, and fall back into a coma, and maybe never come out of it again. Come on, just please don't give up!" Ash carried on, squeezing Misty's hand tight. Misty's hand twitched, but nobody noticed. But straight after, Misty moved her finger slightly.

"Brock, Jo! She just moved her finger I swear! Misty, come on, please keep at it!" Ash said as Brock and Jo rushed to the side of the bed.

"Come on Mist, please do it again!!! Show Jo and Brock I'm not kidding" And with that, Misty's finger surely moved. Jo gasped.

"That's it Misty! Just keep at it, and please open your eyes! Please!!!" Jo begged. Misty stayed still a few moments, before her face twitched.

"Misty, just keep on trying, you're nearly there!!!" Ash begged also. After another twitch, her eyes slowly began opening.

"Misty!!" Ash exclaimed before practically leaping on her and hugging her. (Look, nothing else in the AAML department… yet ^_~) Misty just stared straight forward for a moment, before breaking down into tears.

"Hey come on… what's up?" Ash asked.

"I… I really thought I had gone again…" Misty sobbed into his shoulder. 

"I know, we thought you had for a while… come on, quieten down…" He replied. After a couple of minutes of calming Misty down, Brock went to fetch Dr Barton and the antidote. 

"Misty, the antidote's ready now, so we had been waiting for you to wake up again." Jo said to Misty as Brock left the room to fetch Dr Barton. They returned a few minutes later with the antidote.

"So you're awake again? How are you feeling Misty?" Dr Barton asked

"Not too bad, I'm not tired anymore, but don't feel much better…" Misty replied

"Okay, that's fine. Now this is going to hurt quite a lot Misty, as we have to inject it straight into your bloodstream in your arm." Dr Barton explained as he injected Misty with the antidote. She winced as pain seared through her arm as the needle pierced her skin.

"This antidote should take immediate effect, so you should feel better within half an hour." Dr Barton reassured as he left the room.

*~*~*~*~*

3 days later

Misty had just finished signing the discharging papers, after making a speedy recovery due to the antidote. Brock had gone to the Magnet train station the day before to book tickets to get back to New Bark Town. Ash, Jo and Brock were gathering her belongings together while Misty packed them on her bed. Misty had noticed Pichu's Pokéball at the bottom of her bag, and had decided to tell Ash about her Pichu. Ash was quite surprised at this.

"Misty, do you really have a Pichu?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's just… not a Water Pokémon."

"Togepi isn't either Ash…"

"I guess. How did you get hold of it anyway?"

"My sisters went to New Bark Town about a month ago to pick up some water Pokémon from Prof. Elm, and he sent me a really young Pichu which had been abandoned or had lost her parents. Prof. Elm's aide found her outside Tohjo Falls." With the mention of Tohjo Falls, Pikachu's ears pricked up.

"Anyway, about Pichu, I was wondering, could you come up with a nickname for her?"

"Well, lets see her…" Misty released Pichu for Ash. Immediately she noticed Pikachu, and as it was an evolved form of itself, ran straight over to Pikachu for an acquaintance. 

"What a cutie!!!" Jo exclaimed

"I second that" Brock added

"Well, lets see… Can I pick her up?" Ash asked

"Sure, just don't startle her. She'll not only shock you, but herself. Plus she packs quite a strong shock… especially for a baby…" Misty replied. Ash walked up slowly to Pichu who was jumping at Pikachu. Ash gently picked her up, but obviously startled her because:

"Pi? Piii CHU!!!" And released a Thunderbolt attack on Ash, and itself. Ash dropped to the floor, Pichu still in his hands. Misty sighed.

"Ash, I told you. Bring her over here so I can sort her out." Ash didn't move.

"Ash, come over here PLEASE?"

"I'm warning you…" Misty's temper was rising with Ash's apparent joke.

"Grr… GET HERE NOW!!!"

"Okay, I'm sorry!" Ash shot up and ran to Misty with Pichu, handing Pichu back to Misty.

"Here Pichu, eat this berry, it'll make you feel better." Misty said feeding Pichu a Berry from her bag.

"Well, at least the Misty I know is back!" Ash laughed

"Excuse me?" Misty growled

"I said at least you're back to normal"

"Meaning in which way Ash Ketchum?"

"Umm…"

"What he really means is that your temper's back to normal…" Brock aided Ash, shooting him a grin straight after this comment. Ash knew what was coming, so he began edging away.

"Why you little… Ash Ketchum… get here- whoa!" Misty exclaimed as she shot up to chase Ash, but she fell right back down onto the bed as her legs gave way. Ash came straight to her.

"You okay? I guess you'll have to take it easy for a while… you haven't walked for… 3 weeks now!"

"I guess… 3 weeks?! I've been in hospital for 3 weeks?!"

"Yup, a week and a bit in ICU in a coma, and the rest of the time in here…"

"Oh my God!" Misty said wide-eyed. 'I can't afford to take it easy for a while if I want to make it to the Johto League this summer…' Misty scowled at the thought.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, fine…" Misty trailed off. "Come on then Ash, how about Pichu then?" She carried on while packing the leftovers of her items into her bag with her free arm.

"Err, well…" Ash thought hard and screwed his face up in concentration

"Heh, I don't think Ash's head's used to being used so much!" Jo joked. Ash just waved his hand at her, telling her to give up.

"Ah! Got it!" Ash said suddenly

"Yeah, go on…" Misty replied

"Well, how about Daisy… wait no, that's your sister's name… come on… think Ash… hmm. How about Poppy?"

"Aw, that's a nice name… thanks Ash!" Misty replied cheerfully.

"Whoa, near enough first go…" Ash commented.

"Well, that's all my stuff packed. What time is your train leaving back to New Bark?" Misty sighed, changing the subject.

"Err…" Ash started

"11:20." Brock finished for Ash.

"Well, I guess we'd better get going to the station then, add on some extra time for Misty to come down with us…" Jo said

"Hey, I'm not an invalid you know!" Misty retorted

"Yeah, but not far off…" Ash murmured

"So? It's not exactly if I'll drop dead on you…" Misty reasoned

"No…"

"Well, I don't have to give up so much time…"

"Look Misty, if you're not careful, you'll end up back in hospital. Now please, just accept you'll struggle for a while. You nearly died on us too many times!" Ash pleaded

"Don't remind me… Oh well. Come on then…" Misty cringed, getting up slowly. Ash carried her bag for her as she slowly made her way out of the door, Jo and Brock right behind in case her legs gave way. As they were walking out of the room, Joy noticed them, and beckoned them over to the desk. Misty leant on the table when she got there to rest her already tired legs.

"Okay Misty, you're free to go, Ash said you're off back to Cerulean, so if you want I'll phone the hospital and inform them that you'll need frequent check ups…" Joy offered. Misty looked behind her, and noticed Jo.

"You should tell her that you're not off back to Cerulean. I'll take Ash to look at the notice board or something to get him out of the way…" Jo whispered in Misty's ear. Misty nodded her head.

"Ash, come over here with me while Misty finishes talking with Joy…" Jo said, dragging Ash away.

"Well, I'm not actually off back to Cerulean. I'm entering the Johto League, but I'm in training at the minute." Misty said quietly, leaning over the desk slightly.

"So you're saying…"

"I'm on the road with two others. Ash didn't know this…"

"Okay, well you have to take it easy for a couple of weeks, and get plenty of rest. Say, travel at a steady pace, and get plenty of sleep. I'll phone the other Joys in Pokémon Centres to give you a check up and at some replace your plaster. You can't use that arm by the way, I think overall you've got around 10 broken bones in your arm and hand… at least."

"Okay, well thanks, I will take it easy, and if I feel ill, I'll get to a Centre or hospital quickly."

"Okay, and one more thing, I'll just go fetch you some medication Dr Barton wants you on…" Joy said, going off to fetch the medicine. Ash and Jo came back over.

"Where did she just go?" Ash asked

"She's gone to fetch some medication for me," Misty replied. Joy returned with 2 boxes of pills.

"Okay Misty, Dr Barton said you must take a follow up to the antidote, just as a precaution. You need to be on these for a month, and take two a day, one in the morning, and one before your evening meal. The others are vitamin pills to get you back to normal quicker, and help your arm mend quicker, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"One more thing, try to eat healthy food, and food that is high in energy such as chocolate, but don't pig on it!"

"Okay, thanks a lot for treating me, I'm extremely grateful…" Misty thanked. Joy smiled.

"No problem. It's our job. Go on, you'd better be off." Joy finished.

"Okay, bye Joy!" Misty said cheerfully as they began walking to the exit.

"Here Misty, I'll put those in your bag," Ash offered. Misty handed him the medicine. 

5 minutes later, they were out of the hospital.

"Okay, which way is it to the train station?" Ash asked. Misty sighed at Ash's dumbness.

"That's one thing I actually miss from not travelling with you Ash."

"What?"

"The fact you're so dumb!"

"Take that back!"

"Nope. Anyways, the station's north of the city isn't it?" Misty asked Brock.

"Yeah,"

"Okay, lets go then!" Misty said as she set off in the direction of the station. Ash Brock and Jo followed.

"Whoa Misty slow down. Take it easy!" Ash nagged her catching her up.

"She's going to be exhausted by the time we get to the station…if she lasts that long." Brock said to Jo.

"Yeah… I hope she'll take it easy when she's travelling," Jo agreed quietly.

10 minutes later, about 20 minutes from the station…

"Misty, you okay? You're slowing a bit…" Ash asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Misty answered. After about 5 more minutes of very slow walking, Misty's legs gave way. Ash sighed as Brock helped her up.

"Brock, you be our packhorse and take our bags… Misty, get on my back." Ash said 

"No, I'm okay…" Misty said, and started walking again. After she fell again, Ash rushed to her, and after a weak protest, Misty ended up getting carried by Ash.

"Ash, I'm not useless, I'm not disabled and I can walk. Just let me, please!" Misty said while pounding his shoulder weakly with her free arm.

"No, you're not useless, you're not disabled, but you've proved to us you can walk…for about 10 minutes. Just face it, you're still quite ill, you're lucky you're out of that place…" Ash reasoned with her.

"I guess, but if I don't try, I won't recover quicker, will I?" Misty retorted

"Yeah, but going as you were before doesn't count. Just get it into your head, okay?" Ash finished. The remainder of the walk to the station was pretty quiet, apart from the odd moan or mumble of something by Misty. Ash put her down right outside the station, as they all had to get their tickets out to get onto the platforms. Misty got hers out of her jean pocket, as she had a pass due to the fact she was a gym leader. Ash had his in his bag, as did Jo and Brock.  They went inside, and showed their tickets to the gatekeeper. After they got through, Ash and Jo went into the station shop to pick up some food and drink for their long journey. Brock stayed with Misty and found a seat out on the platform near the information screen. Ash and the other's train was due at 11:10, only it was 20 minutes late. Misty's 'train' was nearly an hour late (Now, if you are a fellow Brit, you will know perfectly well that 80% of trains are delayed by 10 minutes or more… here in Yorkshire, 60% are over 30 minutes late, now that's pretty crap… -_-) Ash and Jo joined Misty and Brock 5 minutes later laden with food for the 4 hour journey across central Johto.

"So then Misty, what time's your train?" Ash asked

"Well, it's supposed to be here at 12:05, but it's 50 minutes late, and yours is 20 minutes late." Misty replied

"God, so we'll arrive in New Bark at about 4:00 this afternoon…how long is your train journey Misty?" Ash asked (again)

"My train's an overnight train… We'll get to Johto/Kanto border at about 7:00, and stay overnight, as we have to be checked over by customs and so on… that's 6 hours, and then it'll take a while to be checked… so we sleep the night on the train, and set off to Cerulean at 7:30 tomorrow, and we're set to arrive in Cerulean at about 12:00 tomorrow."

"God, I wouldn't be able to last that long… 24 hours on a train?" Jo moaned

"Me neither…" Brock agreed. The next half hour while waiting for the train to arrive mainly consisted of small talk, and Pikachu, Togepi and Poppy playing together under the chairs. Finally, 25 minutes late, their train arrives. Seeing as it had to be cleaned before its next journey, Ash and co waited on the platform until the train was about to leave. Brock had taken the bags onto the train just before, and was just coming back off the train.

"Well, I guess this is it." Misty sighed

"You will be coming back soon, right?" Ash said hopefully

"I'll come back once I've recovered and finished my time at the gym," Misty lied. She went up to Brock.

"Well, take care of yourself, and Ashy-boy for me, okay?" Misty asked. Ash scowled

"Of course. As if I hadn't been before… and take care of yourself, don't push yourself too hard." Brock said the latter quietly so Ash wouldn't hear. 

"I will, don't worry Brock!" Misty laughed. Jo was next.

"Well, I guess it was a bit of a weird reunion, but I guess we're back together…" Misty said to her once soul mate.

"Yup, you said it! I was half without you Misty! I'll miss ya…" Jo replied.

"Okay, me too."

"And go and thrash the rest of the Johto gyms, okay? I'll see ya at the League, k?" Jo added quietly.

"Okay. You entering?"

"Depends on how much training I do…" Jo said mysteriously. Finally, it was Ash's turn. Misty turned to him.

"Well, we're off our separate ways again…" Misty said to him.

"I guess. You be careful okay? I don't want to return to Cerulean and visit you in hospital okay? Take care of yourself."

"Stop worrying about me, and take care of yourself Ashy! Keep up your training too." Misty dismissed his last sentence sadly.

"I'm gonna miss you…" Ash started. Misty started to get teary eyed.

"Me too…" Misty replied. After the two stared at each other for a second, Misty flung her arms around his neck, and hugged him. Brock silently cheered behind the pair, and Jo just grinned. The train conductor blew the final boarding whistle. Misty let go of Ash.

"Well, I guess I'll see you some time." Misty said.

"Soon?" Ash asked

"As soon as possible, like I said as soon as I've recovered, and after I've served as a gym leader for a while…"

"Don't forget- 1st August, Johto League begins!" Ash hinted.

"I haven't forgotten… go on. You'd better get on!" Misty replied, smiling.

"Don't forget to call me!" Ash reminded.

"I'll phone you every day!" And with that, the doors were shut on the train, and Ash Jo and Brock came up to a table by a window. As the train set off, they waved to Misty, who was waving back, and so was Poppy, who was balancing on her plaster. They carried on waving until the train had gone out of view. Misty sighed.

"Well Poppy, that's it. Now we need to find out about Beth an Mark…" Misty said to Pichu, as she made her way out of the station.

*~*~*~*~*

Well, you like? Probably not, and if it's a little bitty, like not all linking up, well, that's the outcome of many events going on in between, listed at the beginning. I've tried to sort it, but that's the best I can do. Please, read and review, and one last message:

**_~*MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!*~_**


	10. Chapter 8 Team Rocket Return!

Right, okay, now prepare for a major rambling apology.

[Very long rambling apology session]

I am so very sorry it has taken this amount of time to update. I haven't updated since 20th December- 8 months ago. Now this is bad even in my books. Even worse I've had a fair amount of this written since New Year, although I made a large change to it (Thanks Grocko for helping me with that part- remember, the gym dilemma I had back in January? Even though it hasn't really affected it now, I completely changed the plan last week!), affecting how this chapter was gonna end, so it took a bit of rethinking in my head, and changed my plans- a few times! But I do have my excuses, some extremely valid, some out and out lame, but they stopped me from working on this. Won't say every single one, but the valid ones included I had to revise for a Science exam, but we had only learnt half the specification. On top of that, we had another 3 science exams and one Maths exam. This was a real pain, 'cos I was constantly learning how to do equations in science (energy equations such as potential energy- bleh, plus electricity equations… such as potential difference= nah, I won't bore you.), only to be written over again by how to do many interesting and wonderful things with fractions, throwing them out the window not included unfortunately, 'cos I would have got an A* for that!

Right, and one very lame excuse for this being how late it is… moping over England losing to Australia. I moped for a week, then I oh so very nearly did a ritual burning of my England shirt, but nah, saw the bad side of it. I'd lose a football shrine!!! 

Anywho you will never know how sorry I am about this, and I am also sorry for rambling. I will now shut up and let you read on.

[/Very long rambling apology session]

**Disclaimer**: I'm rolling in the money at present, but I'd need to multiply my money by 100,000 to buy out the Pokémon Company probably. So, I still don't own Pokémon.

Well here's the long awaited- *looks for enthusiastic readers, sees none -_-* * new chapter. Please enjoy, and review at the end… please? Here you go!

This chapter will be updated with a proofread version, read by my writing partner, and buddy Prof. Clo aka Karoi- Chan. Just please make do with this version. I don't think much will be changed, but hey! I can never be sure.

**Misty's Journey**

**By Misty's Double**

**Chapter 8- Team Rocket returns!**

*~*~*~*~*

"Okay Misty, I'd better let you get to sleep then…"

"No, you're alright. I'm absolutely fine, honest!"

"Oh, okay then. So umm… what have you been doing the past few days?"

"What do you think? I've been resting up… of course! It's been so peaceful at the Gym, my sisters have been running around like headless chickens trying to keep the Gym organised, and looking after me… Where are you guys?"

"We're on the Kanto side of Tohjo Falls, training."

"Oh Ash, come on, I want to speak to Misty too…" Jo moaned. Ash ignored her.

"*Ahem* Ash, can I have a turn… ASH!!!"

"Alright Jo, don't use Dragon Rage…"

"Why you little… Ash, get here!!!" Jo shouted, running after Ash.

"Err… Ash? You still there? Ash?"

"Oh, sorry Mist. Just got a problem with Jo… you know, she's definitely got the same Gyarados personality as you…"

"Grrr… ASH, DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT ABOUT ME!!!"

"Heheheh… OWW!!" Ash had been stopped in his tracks by a tree root, which he tripped over, sending him to the floor, this allowed Jo to catch up with Ash and hit him in the face.

"Oww…" Ash moaned as Jo took the Pokégear out of his hand.

"Ash, what's wrong now?"

"Misty, it's me. Ash err… isn't available anymore." Jo laughed

"Hi Jo. Why, did you do something to him? I heard what he called you…"

"Heh, I whacked him in the face… not in a particularly good mood with him…"

"Why?"

"He's got us lost in a forest we don't even need to be in!"

"Uh, okay, hit him again, from me this time, and tell him not to be so dense!"

"Just a sec…" Jo replied as she walked up to Ash, just as he was sitting up again, reaching her arm out, hand clenched in a fist. Ash stared wide-eyed.

"No, no, not that again…" Ash said, trying to edge away from Jo. He failed miserably, and Jo planted her fist on top of his head.

"AARRRGGGH!!!!!" Ash screamed. Jo smirked.

"Oh, and by the way, Misty says don't be dense." Ash sighed in defeat before sprawling on the floor again.

"Done and dusted." Jo said, walking away from Ash.

"Thanks Jo! So… what do you want?"

"I want to speak… very tedious talking to a half brained twerp all day you know! So how are you feeling?" 

"I've felt better, but I'm okay, honest!" Misty reassured.

"Where are you right now?"

"About 2 miles north of Goldenrod. Tomorrow we're hopefully going to get past National Park."

"So, you've fought Whitney huh?" 

Misty had fought Whitney two days ago, one day after leaving hospital. Misty's Bellsprout was put against Whitney's Clefairy, which used Metronome and seriously damaged Bellsprout with Fire Blast. Misty decided it was best to return Bellsprout and use another Pokémon, which turned out to be Starmie. Whitney ordered another Metronome, which this time didn't quite work too well, making Clefairy use Explosion on itself! Whitney's second choice was a Granbull. The round started well for Starmie, after using a chain of well-chosen moves, Granbull didn't have much HP remaining. But Whitney's quick thinking caught Misty off guard when spotting an opening, and nearly knocked Starmie out for the count with a well-aimed Headbutt. After some strategic moves Starmie turned around the tables, and with minimum HP, knocked out Granbull. Although a few moments later fatigue got the better of Starmie and it fainted also, but Granbull's fall counted, meaning Misty won the round! The final round was Whitney's Miltank (surprise surprise!) pitched against Ash's birthday present to Misty.

*Flashback*

"Right, no time for games now, this is serious. Go Miltank!" Whitney said with determination in her voice. Misty frowned. 

**_'I guess this is as good a time as any for a debut'_**** Misty fingered the Pokéball on her belt. She sighed.**

**"Beginner's luck is probably what we need right now, so go, whoever you are!!!" She called as the Pokéball sprung open and emitted the light. After the light died down, Dewgong was revealed. Misty gasped at this rare Pokémon's colour.**

**"It's… beautiful." Misty said in awe. Whitney nodded.**

**"I am inclined to agree, but this a battle. Miltank, Attract!" The attack failed.**

**"Well, let's see your attacks then…" Misty smiled, directing her Pokédex towards her Pokémon. It scanned, and the tinny computer voice spoke:**

**"Dewgong's attacks. Number 1. Aurora Beam. Number 2. Surf. Number 3. Recover. Number 4- Blizzard." Misty's smile grew even wider.**

**"Well then, you're pretty strong aren't ya? Blizzard attack!" Dewgong obeyed, and unleashed the devastating attack, freezing Miltank!**

**"Brilliant! One hit, and it's nearly finished!" Misty exclaimed. When she saw Whitney's face, Misty's expression changed.**

**"No, I don't think so…" Whitney retorted coldly as the ice melted off Miltank. Misty widened her eyes, and was about to say that wasn't possible, until it struck her.**

**"Wha- a Burnt Berry." Misty said, as it registered. She looked down for a moment. Mentally, she was scolding herself for getting egotistical and not thinking about anything like a Burnt Berry.**

**"Miltank, Rollout! Come on, this isn't over yet!!!" Whitney shouted. Misty scowled, and her head shot up.**

**"Oh no you don't! Come on Dewgong! Aurora Beam!" Dewgong emitted a sub-zero beam, slowing Miltank down drastically, but it still homed in on Dewgong, who took a fair amount of damage.**

**"Right Dewgong, you're gonna have to be quick if we want to win this! Surf followed by Blizzard immediately, don't leave yourself open!" Misty ordered. Miltank was powering up for Rollout again as Dewgong unleashed Surf. It slowed Miltank down again; this time it was enough to give Dewgong time to evade Miltank.**

**"That's it… NOW!!!" Misty shouted as Dewgong unleashed Blizzard head on with the approaching Miltank. It kept rolling, and soon began to slow. When it stopped, it stood up, only to keel over and faint! The referee held up the corresponding flag for Misty.**

**"Miltank is unable to battle. Dewgong is the winner, and Misty wins the match!" The referee announced.**

*End flashback*

"Yup, and it was quite a battle too. I won of course!"

"Hey, don't get an ego the size of Ash's!" Jo joked.

"I heard that…" Ash growled, walking out from behind the bush.

"Heh, Ash?" Jo said. Ash looked at her.

"What?"

"Shut it. I'm talking to Misty if you don't mind. Oh, and please respect other peoples privacy…" Ash shrugged his shoulders before walking off in a random direction.

"Come on Pikachu, we'll make ourselves useful…" Ash said to Pikachu, which had just appeared from behind another bush.

"Sorry Mist." Jo said, reverting back to Misty.

"It's alright. I know how immature he is; he's gone sulking hasn't he? Anywho, Beth says dinner's ready, so I'd better go."

"Okay, I'll talk to you soon! Bye!" Jo finished the conversation.

"So, how is she?" Brock asked, as Jo came walking back into the clearing where they were staying the night.

"She said she was fine, but she sounded a bit off…" Jo replied, sitting down on the ground.

"But it's not exactly as if she's going to feel better really quickly. I'm still very surprised at how quickly she was discharged from hospital… even though she recovered quicker than usual to say what she went through, if she was in Kanto I think she would still be in hospital for another week at least…" Brock reasoned. After a couple of minutes with none of the two speaking, Brock broke the awkward silence, which had engulfed them.

"Where's Ash?" Jo looked up.

"Oh, he went off in a sulk 'cos I hit him on the head twice, told him to shut up, and he heard me telling Misty not to get an ego his size…" Jo sighed.

"He'll be back as soon as his stomach grumbles or it gets dark…" At that moment, Ash emerged into the clearing.

"So hungry… need food…" Ash moaned, clutching his growling stomach. At this remark, Jo laughed.

"What now?" Ash scowled

"Oh nothing, we were just talking about you…"

"Humph, like usual…"

"What?! Ash Ketchum, stop being so melodramatic!"

"I'm not being whatever that word was!"

"Yes you are!"

"Right, both of you shut up. Ash, go set out the sleeping bags, Jo, you can help me cook the spaghetti. I'll make the bolognaise." Brock butted in before the argument got ugly. Ash moaned.

"But…"

"Ash? Shut up and do what you're told!" Brock warned. Ash sighed, and did his task before he got shouted at or what seemed like the tenth time that evening.

*****

"Misty, you _are_ going to take a break now, whether you like it or not!" Beth ordered. Mark turned to look at Misty with pleading eyes. Misty reluctantly agreed.

"If we must…" She said before slumping down on the ground. Mark grinned before following suit. Beth Mark and Misty had been trekking to Ecruteak since 8:00 in the morning due to Misty wanting to get started early. It was now 2:00 in the afternoon and the trio were seriously flagging. Misty stared into the distance, feeling the early summer sun beating down.

"God, I'd pay _anything_ to be relaxing on Cinnabar beach soaking up the sun…" Beth sighed, putting her rucksack down and laying herself down on the fresh cool grass.

"No way! I'd be out surfing. No time for relaxing when there's killer waves to surf!!!"

"I guess I could I agree with you Mark… but I'd be with Ash and Brock travelling…" Misty agreed.

"Well, if you were with Ash and Brock, what would you be doing?" Beth asked

"Well, if Ash was being as stubborn as I am right now, which I will apologise about, we'd be walking… otherwise, we'd be taking a day off, giving the Pokémon some good exercise…" Misty sighed. Beth reached into her rucksack for a drink.

"Okay then, so which way do we go from the end of this path?" Mark asked. Misty looked at the map.

"Well, we can go left, and follow a path through National Park, or we could go right, and cut out National Park, but there's another forest… urgh… that means more bugs."

"But if we go through National Park, there's more bugs there." Beth pointed out. Misty sighed.

"Good point. So which way? I'm not bothered."

"How long is each route?"

"Well, if we miss out National Park and go through the forest, it's a lot shorter, but the downside is it's a bit hilly… if we follow the proper route, there's one big hill going into Ecruteak and that's it. So come on, pick!" Misty explained. Mark looked over her shoulder at the map.

"Hmm… the hills along the shorter route aren't steep, look at the contour lines, they're okay. I say the shorter route. How about you Beth?"

"I'm not bothered."

"Okay, shorter route it is then! Come on then, let's go!" Misty said getting up.

"No not yet Misty, 10 more minutes, please?" Beth begged. Misty agreed before sitting back down.

"Oh come on Beth, we want to get going. This is boring… come on…" Mark moaned. Beth ignored him and turned to the map Misty put down. She began looking at the routes for Mahogany and Olivine. The group were silent for 5 minutes, when Beth broke the silence.

"Okay, come on then…"

"Finally!" Mark and Misty said in unison as they stood up, put their bags on, and walked down the right path in the fork towards Ecruteak City.

*****

"AAARRRGGGHHH!!! Get it away from me!" Misty screamed as she ran away from a curious Weedle. Mark laughed.

"It likes you Misty. There's no need to run away from it, it'll be more scared of you than you are of it!" Mark said before bursting into laughter again.

"Well I'm only coming back if you get rid of it. Besides, I'm not sleeping here; can't we sleep in a clearing? It's safer…" Misty shouted, as there was a significant distance between the two. Beth decided to speak for Mark, as he scooped the Weedle up and put it down away from Misty.

"Misty, it's dark, we can hardly see where we're going. Just set up camp here."

"But there's a lake and clearing just a little that way. Bugs won't come out into the clearing… or water…" Misty reasoned. Mark and Beth hastily inclined.

"As soon as we're there, we're setting up camp and I'm off to sleep. I'm tired." Beth moaned.

"Fair enough." Misty finished, as the trio followed Misty into a clearing in silence. 10 minutes later, they made it.

"Well, at least the bugs won't come out here…" Misty said cheerfully.

"Yeah whatever. Can we please have the tents set up now?" Beth moaned, slinging her bag on the floor, and following the bag onto the floor with the same soft thud.

"Right, Mark, can you manage your tent? I'll help Misty with ours. Take it no one wants supper?" Beth asked, not waiting for Mark to answer the first question. Both shook their heads towards the supper question as they got up and began erecting their tents. 

*The next morning*__

Mark was the first to rise that morning, partly due to the fact it had rained overnight, and because he had rushed putting his tent up so he could go to sleep, he woke up in a puddle of ice cold water. He sat up, and looked at the state of the 'tent' (which had collapsed overnight) from inside, and cursed under his breath. He attempted to get free of his sleeping bag to try and find the exit to his tent, when he realised it was useless, and just called for help.

In the girls' tent…

"Mmm… okay, okay, I've finished with the butter thank you very much… huh, what?" Beth said half asleep before her head got together someone was shouting.

"HELP!!! I'M STUCK IN MY TENT!!!"

"Mark, will you shut the hell up? Go to the zip, it's easy enough, now if you don't mind, I'm off to sleep again…" Beth answered. This was shortly followed by another string of curses from Mark's tent.

"But… I can't find the zip. The tent's collapsed!" Mark sighed in defeat. Beth sat up at this remark, and giggled, before shaking Misty to wake her up.

"Misty, come on, you've go to see this, Mark's tents collapsed, and he's stuck in it…" 

"Look, TODAY would be nice you know!" Mark shouted.

"Hey! You were supposed to be the 'camping expert' I recall…" Beth shouted, before bursting out into more giggles. Misty yawned, and then asked what was occurring.

"Beth, come on, what have you done to me? If you've drawn all over my face, I'll…" Misty threatened, thinking Beth was laughing at her for some reason, but was stopped abruptly by another shout from the other tent.

"Look, I don't care what you wanna say about me, just PLEASE get me out of this stupid tent, NOW!"

"Okay, keep your hair on… honestly. What kind of wake up call is that?" Misty moaned as she got out of her sleeping bag, and quickly got dressed, as Beth followed suit. Within minutes, they were outside, and laughing at Mark's 'tent', and helping a very irate and embarrassed Mark out of his tent.

"Well, where's the thanks then eh? See if I ever save you again!" Misty said as she went to get her sleeping bag and bag sorted.

"Well who got out of the wrong side of her bed this morning?" Mark said, receiving a death glare from Misty.

"Would _you _be pleased with being woken up by an idiot who's stuck in his tent at- 5:45 in the morning?! Christ!" Misty said after checking her Pokégear for the time.

"Well, I AM sorry! Next time I will just sit there in a collapsed tent for 2 hours right?" Mark said sarcastically. Misty shot around and glared at him right in his face.

"Well, how about you do that next time?" Misty hissed before going into her tent to sort her stuff out.

"As you can see, she's not in the best of moods this morning, I don't think she slept well, so please be nice Mark," Beth pleaded. Mark nodded.

"Okay, I guess I should. I'll dry this out, and start breakfast for once, you go help Misty"

Two hours later, after a hearty breakfast from Mark, the tents were packed, and the trio were back on their way to Ecruteak. 

"Right, how far we got until Ecruteak then?" Beth asked.

"The route we took is 12 miles long, and we covered 8 miles yesterday, so we only have 4 miles. We'll climb this hill, which won't be hard, and we should see Ecruteak at the top of the next hill." Mark informed.

"So as soon as we get in, which should be about 11, shall we get some lunch, and head off to the gym?" Misty asked, her temper now non-existent.

"Sure, sounds great, lets get going" Beth said. They set off after Misty took painkillers, as she had told them over breakfast her arm was really hurting her.

*****

Brock and Jo woke up the next morning to find Ash's sleeping bag empty. Brock, panicking as it was so early (The early morning mist was obscuring the dim sunlight slightly), got out of his sleeping bag immediately to check around the area of their campsite. After checking and finding nothing, he noticed a white note on Ash's rucksack.

"What does it say?" Jo asked sleepily, sitting up. Brock read the note aloud.

**"Brock+Jo,**

**I've gone for an early morning jog with Pikachu and my other Pokémon, be back in 30 minutes.**

**-Ash."**

"What? You mean Ash? Exercising?!" Jo said shocked.

"Yeah, he's getting into his training programme well, I'll say that." Brock said, surprised at the letter. He put it back down, yawned, and began rolling up his sleeping bag. Jo followed suit after getting out.

"You know, it might be a good idea for me to do that, or go swimming with my water types. Get their stamina's up for the League, they'll get strong battles in the league." Jo pondered.

"Yeah, good point. Now, shall I start breakfast? Bacon okay for this morning?" 

"Yeah, fine. Ash'll probably want anything as long as it's food."

"Yeah."

10 minutes later, everything was packed apart from the cooking stuff, when Ash came panting from behind the bushes.

"Nice morning jog Ash?" Jo asked

"Went… too far… uphill… painful. Need… food." Ash collapsed on the floor.

"Ha ha, here ya go Ash, have some orange first. Where's all your Pokémon?" Brock asked.

"*Gulp* They're all right behind me. Totodile was way behind from the beginning because he was trying to run how he dances…" Ash said after having his drink. Jo laughed at the image, which was playing in her mind of what Totodile would look like running.

"So I'd better get some food out for them, and it would be best to get some water for them too I guess." Brock thought aloud, fetching some Premium Pokéchow out of his bag, and emptying half a bottle of water into 3 bowls for the Pokémon to drink out of. At that moment, Pikachu and Cyndaquil emerged from the forest, followed by Noctowl in the air.

"Noctowl, I hope you flew faster than you are now, it's supposed to be fitness training…" Ash moaned. Noctowl landed on Jo, and cocked his head before hooting. Ash sighed. A few minutes later, Bayleef, Phanpy and Totodile came through the same patch of trees and collapsed in a heap next to Ash.

"Well, I guess that all of you are pretty tired from the run…" Ash paused

"Chu/Toto/Bay bay/Phanpy/Quil/Hoot!" (Yes!) The Pokémon moaned.

"Chu Pikachu Pikapi Pi Chupika…" (If Ash makes us do that again, he's gonna regret it…) Pikachu mumbled in a low voice.

"That means that… if we do that distance every morning, we'll all get strong enough to take it, then we'll run even further!!!" Ash finished triumphantly, but didn't get the reply he expected.

"Pika…CHU!!!" Pikachu shouted as she used Thunderbolt on Ash.

"Hey! I thought you lot wanted to win the league!" Ash shouted.

"PIKA!!! Pika, pipichu Pichu Pikachu!!!" (Of course we do, we just don't want to do that again!!!)

"Ash, I don't think all your Pokémon thought this was the exact idea of League training, and I think you pushed them that *little* bit too far this morning to say they hadn't done anything like this before," Brock reasoned.

"Yeah, I guess so, but you guys are still going to do training like that every morning… just not so far right now." Ash quickly added, seeing Pikachu's cheeks sparking again. He sighed with relief when the sparks disappeared.

"Right, breakfast's ready, Ash it's bacon, not burgers, and eggs, okay?" Brock called, although nobody was too far from him.

*****

"Wow, what a lovely view of Ecruteak!" Beth cooed as she reached the top of Woodo Hill, named so for the Sudowoodo once found in the forest on the other side, where 4 routes meet. When Mark and Misty caught up, they agreed. Ahead of them was the renowned city in the north of Johto.  It was 10:15, so the morning mist still lingered over the top of the hill, where Ecruteak laid. Peeking out of the rooftops were two large towers; the Burnt Tower and the Tin Tower, both legendary in their own rights, just visible through the mist.

"The mist makes Ecruteak look so pretty doesn't it? Especially with the mountain backdrop and the towers peeking out at the back of the city… so romantic…" Misty said in awe. Mark and Beth just looked at her.

"Err… right, okay. Is it true there are a load of ghost Pokémon in Ecruteak?" Mark said, quickly changing the subject.

"Yeah, around Burnt Tower there are, and Morty uses them too."

"Who?"

"*Sigh* The Ecruteak gym leader idiot."

"Well how was I supposed to know Beth?"

"It's just logical. All you have to do is think."

"Yeah, but that's always difficult for lads isn't it Misty?"

"I'd say so, yeah, but I'm gonna stick up for little dense head here and say he isn't the worse I've seen," 

"See, Misty likes me!" Mark said, staring Beth down.

"But, he's one of the worst." Misty finished.

"Oh, well thanks for sticking up for me." Mark said sarcastically

"Okay, can we get going down the hill? The more rests we take, the longer it'll take us to get to Ecruteak." Beth said quickly]

"Yeah, true. We'll get going then." Mark replied. Misty nodded, and they began descending quickly down the woodland route. 10 minutes later, they were in the Ecruteak valley, at the foot of the hill leading to Ecruteak city.

*****

Ash, Jo and Brock were taking a slow walk just past Tohjo falls, finding a perfect training spot for Ash and Jo. For the past 10 minutes, Ash and Jo had been talking about Pokémon attacks.

"Jo, how does Mirror Coat exactly work?"

"Ash, you mean you don't know how Mirror Coat doesn't work either? Right. Let's see… say you use a special attack against let's see, my Corsola. Say you used Razor Leaf. I would use Mirror Coat, and it will send the damage back at your Pokémon. But, if you use something like Take Down or Poison Sting- they're both physical attacks- then Mirror Coat wouldn't work. I would have to use…" Jo left the sentence for Ash to finish.

"Counter instead. Right, Mirror coat, special attacks. Counter, physical attacks."

"Finally! Ash has finally learnt the difference between the two attacks…" Brock said with fake cheer.

"Hey! It's really difficult to understand those attacks!!!"

"Yeah, I know, it's just you've taken so long. Anyway, can we stay here? I think it's the best place we'll find for your training needs…" Brock suggested. Jo looked round.

"Can we keep going a little further, I'd like somewhere with water for My Gazza and Corsy. Gazza especially, you don't know how grumpy he can get do you?" 

"Yeah, okay. I think going on a little further would be better, I mean, we haven't even been going for an hour." Ash reasoned.

"Okay, I reckon we should get close anyway. Let's go." Brock finished.

*****

_In a Team Rocket Base (one of many) near Mt Silver…  _

Jessie, James and Meowth were walking towards Giovanni's office in the base.  

"James, stop messing with that stupid toy… I know it may go beep, but we've got business to do. The boss wants us." Jessie said to James, trying to stop him from playing with a free toy he got with his lunch.

"But Jessie… it's so cool, look! You can see Scooby through that window! It's a perfect model of the Mystery Machine!" James cooed. He had got the toy free with a kiddie meal at the fast food joint in Violet City, and was amazed by the thing. Scooby Doo had recently been released in Johto, and was the latest thing.  

"James, just think, if you hand over dat stoopid toy now, so we can go see da boss, we can get our next mission over with, get paid, and you can get the whole collection of the toys!" Meowth reasoned.

"Yeah, come on James, hand it over before the boss sees it, he'll go mental with you." Jessie reached to snatch it away from him.

"No! You're not having Scooby Dooby Dooooooo!" James wailed.

"Oh look, there's the loser team." Butch sneered as they exited a room in front of James.

"Well, hello Jessie. What's this your boyfriend's got? Oh look, he's playing with Scooby Doo. How sweet." Cassidy sneered also. Jessie growled.

"He can't help it! You do realise he's been suffering from… err…" Jessie faltered. 

"Amnesia. He suffered a heavy blow to his head during the last mission, which, may I add, we did succeed in. He's only just come back from sick leave, and we're the ones who had to look after him." Jessie finished. James looked up.

"But… I don't have amnesia…"

"Heh, ignore him, he doesn't know what he's saying." Meowth said hastily.

"Oh, well, I hope you get well soon James, I really don't think that Giovanni wants a vegetable on his next mission. But I seriously do feel for him. Could I ask, was it by any chance you who hit him on his head?" Cassidy said.

"No!!! I wouldn't do that to him! He… got knocked over by a bus. In Goldenrod. That's it." Jessie spat.

"That sounds like it would hurt…" Butch said

"Of course it would! Anyway, we hope he recovers soon. We must go now; Giovanni is briefing us on our next mission in 10 minutes. See ya later Jessie." Cassidy said before she sauntered off in the same direction they were headed.

"That was close. James, in here a minute." Jessie said once Cassidy and Butch were out of earshot. They went through the door in front of them, and sat on the seats.

"Right, James, give me that now. You can have it back once we've seen Giovanni." Jessie said, taking the mystery machine off James.

"But Jessie, why did you say I have amnesia? I don't do I? A bus hasn't hit me, and we didn't succeed in our last mission either." James whined

"I know, it was an excuse for you having the mystery machine, ok? But now we've said that, you're gonna have to act like you have amnesia in Giovanni's office, right? But you are NOT having your toy, is that clear?"

"Yes…"

"But Jess, if Jim's acting like dat, he'll take us off dat mission. And we need da money." Meowth said uncertainly.

"Meowth, we need him to act up like that, didn't you hear Cassidy? They've been called to Giovanni's office too. Anyway, I think we should go down there now, last thing we need's being late to our briefing." Jessie said before leaving the room followed by James and Meowth. As they continued down the corridor, Jessie spoke up.

"Remember James, make your "amnesia" subtle, okay?"

"Okay, so shall I just act as if I don't remember things?"

"Yeah, but whatever you do don't do it about the boss, he'll go nuts. Right, here we go, just sit down and wait, okay?"

"Right." Jams finished as they turned down the corridor leading to the Giovanni's office. Once they got to the bottom, they noticed Cassidy and Butch sitting on the seats outside his office. Jessie and James sat down on the end seats, next to a pair of Grunts whom they didn't recognise. They stared at the opposite wall for a few moments before:

"Oh, so the boss has called you three to this briefing then? I didn't expect that." Cassidy said innocently.

"Yeah, well, it'll be James' first mission back for a month. There wasn't another briefing for 3 days." Jessie explained. Cassidy just nodded her head, and went back to reading the magazine she had. There was a stony silence for a few minutes before Giovanni's door opened, and three scientists piled out. 

"The- the boss w-would like to see you all now." One of the scientists said shakily. He caught up with the other to scientists, and the three walked quickly down the corridor. Everybody quickly stood up, and made their way into Giovanni's office.

"Everybody sit." Giovanni ordered. Everybody abided, and sat down on the row of seats in front of his desk. There were three seats leftover.

"Now, you all have been called to this briefing, because I have a lot of faith in your skills-" He began, but was interrupted by a cough by Cassidy. She noticed him glaring at her.

"Oh, I am awfully sorry sir, my throat is extremely sore. Please, continue."

"*Ahem* As I was saying, you have all impressed me recently, so I have called you all together for an important operation which is about to begin." Giovanni faltered for a moment, looking at James' blank expression. He continued.

"During this operation, you will be working alongside 3 Team Rocket 00 Agents very closely- Black Tulip- enter!" A door behind Giovanni at the opposite end of the room opened, and a Rocket Agent entered.

"Good afternoon sir, what could I do for you sir?" Black Tulip politely asked her boss.

"Wait here please, the briefing has just begun. Where are the others?"

"They are both with the other agents, waiting for your call. Could I please ask why 004 is included in this mission? You know we don't get along, and she is the one to blame for losing our Cinnabar Island base-"

"I will not tolerate your mere jealousy towards 004. She is one of our best in assassination operations, and she is included whether you like it or not. 004; 008; enter." At this call, a woman and man entered through the same door. The woman was very tall, and Jessie was amazed by how pretty she was, but how her looks would probably be deceived by her nature. She had mid length blonde hair tied in a high ponytail, and she wore a silver top with a pink "R" in the middle, and silver mini skirt with black boots. The man was tall with jet-black hair spiked up, and wore a white top with a green "R" in the middle. He wore white trousers, and white shoes, closely resembling a Rocket Grunt's uniform apart from the colours.

"Yes sir?" The man spoke.

"Stand next to Black Tulip, the briefing has begun. Now then, I would like you all to meet our 00 agents you will be working with very closely over the next few weeks- Agent 001- Black Tulip, also known as Domino; 004- Silver Rose, also known as Michelle; and Agent 008- White Dragon, also known as James."

"Hey, that's my name!" James said abruptly.

"No you idiot, it's another James. Please excuse him sir." Jessie said.

"What is your problem you blundering fool?!" Giovanni boomed 

"Sir, I thought you knew, James was in a bad accident in the last mission-" Jessie was cut short.

"You will explain later." Giovanni ordered.

"Yes Sir. I'm sorry."

"Back to the briefing. As you are all in your own little teams, and have been for some time, for this operation, one 00 agent will be assigned to each team. Domino, you will be assigned to Butch and Cassidy, Michelle to Jessie and James, and James to Billy and Kim (Billy The Kid, Jesse James, geddit? Never mind…). The 00 agents will be known as their codenames or their agent numbers for privacy reasons unless stated otherwise by the agent. Is that all clear?"

"Yes sir" All the Rockets said monotonously.

"Good. Could the agents please take their seats next to their partners? Right, onto the main mission briefing. Simon, bring in the Intel." Giovanni ordered. Almost immediately a short young male wearing glasses rushed in with a pile of papers, followed by another male carrying a whiteboard. They placed what they were carrying, and then quickly left the room.

"Right, please take one of these booklets each." Giovanni said, moving his hand towards a pile of paper on one side of his desk. Kim, the closest to the desk picked them up and handed them out to everyone. Jessie flicked through hers, while James looked at the paper dumbfounded.

"Jessie, what is all this? I don't understand a word of it." James whispered to her.

"It's ok, I'll help you in a moment. Just keep quiet a minute okay?" Jessie replied.

"Right then. Let's get started. This operation will be known as Operation Hunter, and whenever you are speaking about it to anybody, it will be known as that codename. Now, as some of you may already know, this is a murder operation. Your objective is to find, kidnap and kill the targets. If you turn to page 4 of your booklet, there is a picture of the targets. Please take a moment to read the background info, and familiarise yourself with the targets." Giovanni told the group. Everybody turned to the page, and began reading the page. Jessie saw the picture, and gasped, but didn't say anything. James' eyes widened, and he was going to say something, but remembering the plan, decided not to.

"Well, as you can see from the picture on the page, we are after young, innocent looking trainers. However, you must know that we have our reasons. The group of them consist of 2 former Kanto gym leaders, and one Pokémon trainer. The three of them were last seen in Blackthorn 3 months ago. We are not certain of the whereabouts of these trainers at present, however we do know their destination is Indigo Plateau for the Silver Convention in just over two months time. One of your tasks is to find these trainers, to find out exactly where they are. This is your first task. I will give a tip to you- try phoning every Pokémon Centre in Johto to see when they last came into them. But, the main operation objective is to kill Ash Ketchum, Misty Waterflower, and Brock Slate." Giovanni finished.

*~*~*~*~*

Oooooh, well, what will happen to them? Will all of Team Rocket go through with it? Even I don't know yet! I know it isn't fair on Misty, but it's part of the storyline. That's life, that's what all the people say…

Please do a review for me, I really wanna know what I've got wrong/right, what you wanna see, scold me for taking so long etc. Not just please continue soon and that kinda thing. I wanna know exactly what you think of it. Oh, and if you aren't doing a signed review, please leave an email address with your review, I'm replying to every review!

Anywho, on to the next chapter, I dunno when it will be up, because of school starting in a week, which means I'm in the final year, which means… GCSEs…

Oh, one more thing, I don't own Scooby Doo either. It's someone like Hanna and Barbera, I dunno, just not me!

~Misty's D xxx 


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